The Hindu Business Line : GTB is history; Oriental Bank takes charge of operations

IT'S OCB NOW: A new banner for Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills branch of Global Trust Bank after Oriental Bank of Commerce took charge on Saturday. - A. Roy Chowdhury

Hyderabad , Aug. 14

THE Global Trust Bank (GTB) branches across the country have started functioning as branches of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OCB) from today.

The Government of India on Friday sanctioned the scheme for amalgamation of the GTB with OCB that came into effect on Saturday. All the GTB branches carried banners of OCB, announcing the change.

Mr Rajiv Madhok, General Manager of OCB, told Business Line that the transformation has been smooth. He, along with top officials of the bank, would visit some the erstwhile GTB branches on Monday to have a feel of the functioning of the merged entity.

Lakhs of customers of GTB would be able to operate their accounts as customers of OCB.

OCB was making the necessary arrangements to ensure normal service to GTB customers, an RBI press release said on Friday. The GTB Managing Director, Mr Sudhakar Gande, told Business Line that all the 103 automated teller machines (ATMs) were also opened for transactions.

With the lifting of moratorium all the customers were allowed to carry on normal banking transactions without any restrictions on the amount of withdrawals. Since the RBI imposed moratorium on GTB, all its ATMs were closed and its depositors were not allowed to withdraw more than Rs 10,000.

Stating that barring a few instances, the branches of erstwhile GTB on Saturday did not witness any major withdrawals, he said it would take another three to four days for normalcy to be restored. On the translocation of officials of the erstwhile GTB, he said changes may take place in a week or so for enabling the new management to have effective control over the operations of the bank.

A top GTB official said bank's customers would continue to get normal service. "Now they get a blend of both world-class services backed by security of a public security bank," he said.

Meanwhile, both OCB and GTB staff are preparing for the life after the merger.

"The decision has been taken well by the staff (of OCB). On the other hand, we found the staff of GTB dedicated to the core. They are a motivated lot," a top OCB official said.

The OCB management is sending a list of instructions to all the erstwhile branches of GTB in order to prepare them for the smooth functioning of the merged entity.

On the marriage of the two different work cultures, the OCB official said the GTB would be allowed to carry on its regular style of functioning.

"We will certainly take certain strong points in that bank. Take for example, its marketing strengths," the official pointed out.

More Stories on : Private Banks | Mergers & Acquisitions | Public Sector Banks

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Forex reserves rise by $1 b

Cipla slashes anti-AIDS drug prices by 30%

Zee emerges highest bidder with Rs 1,206 cr

Directors' pay rises faster than staff's

GTB is history; Oriental Bank takes charge of operations

`GTB staff to be retained at same salary for 3 years'