New Delhi, August 30: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a mega-amalgamation of ten public sector banks, who have been merged into four entities. The move, she said, would consolidate the fiscal position of the banks and help them in combating with the non-performing assets. It would also lead to enhanced efficiency and improved management, the Minister claimed. Check Full List of Bank Mergers Announced by Sitharaman Here.

The first merger announced by Sitharaman is of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) with the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and the United Bank. The second involves Canara and Syndicate banks. The third amalgamation is of Andhra Bank, Union Bank of India (UBI) and Corporation Bank. The fourth entity will be formed by the merger of Allahabad Bank with the Indian Bank.

What May Happen to Cheque Book, Passbook And Account Number of Depositors

Customers of the amalgamated banks are left curious to know what will happen to their bank accounts, their deposits, cheque book, passbook, account numbers, IFS code and other mandates assigned by their respective banks.

In the merger, one or two smaller banks amalgamate into the larger one. For instance, the United Bank and OBI will merge into PNB -- which is the largest among the trio. Therefore, the depositors of PNB are unlikely to be assigned a new cheque book, pass book, account number or IFSC.

However, those belonging to smaller banks will be assigned a new IFSC as the initial letters of the code note the bank to which the account is attached. Similarly, the chequebook is a combination of IFSC, account number and other details. Similarly, customers of smaller banks are likely to be issued a new cheque book and passbook. Their account numbers, however, may remain the same.

The new entity formed by the merger is also expected to issue fresh debit and credit cards to their customers, replacing the older ones. In case of loans taken by the customers, they will may have to issue fresh bank mandates.

Those depositors using locker services of the bank are likely to be informed within the next few days to remove their valuables for a few days, and re-store them once the amalgamation is completed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 30, 2019 06:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).