Private-sector lender, Lakshmi Vilas Bank is merging with the non-banking finance company (NBFC), Indiabulls Housing Finance. The announcement was an unexpected one for the employees of the Bank, who are therefore, full of apprehensions and questions, which they plan to get cleared at a meeting tomorrow.
The Lakshmi Vilas Bank Employees’ Union (LVBEU), which has approx. 5000 employees, will be seeking clarifications from the management and making its own stand clear at the meeting.
The merged entity will have more than 14000 employees. Even though it has been assured by the MD and CEO of the Bank that there will be no cultural issues, the employees are naturally concerned. Culturally, the Bank and the NBFC are rather different, and the merger may affect the traditional ways of the former, which may not agree with the new and relatively modern culture of the latter.
The Union will also discuss the merger and its repercussions for the employees with the parent organisation of the Bank, the National Confederation of Bank Employees.
Founded in 1926, the objective of the Lakshmi Vilas Bank was to cater to the financial needs of the population in and around Karur, comprising mainly traders and agriculturists. It was incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, and obtained the certificate to operate on November 10, 1926. It obtained its banking license from the Reserve Bank of India on 19 June, 1958. It became a ‘scheduled commercial bank’ on 11 August, 1958 and by 2014, the corporate office was moved to Chennai.
It has a wide network of 569 branches as well as six extension counters, across the country today.
