GTB brass seeks talks with OBC on salary a/cs

The GTB management proposes to initiate talks with the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) to sort the issue of salary accounts maintained with the private sector bank.

GTB deposit holders have already rushed to open savings and current accounts with other private and public sector banks especially those having salaried accounts with the crisis-ridden private sector entity.

A leading private sector bank with presence across the country has received queries from a number of corporates and retail customers to open fresh accounts.

"Some corporate entities have approached our bank to open their salary accounts. Moreover, since we are also clearing bank for the stock exchange, some brokers have also approached us for opening of demat accounts. Their applications are being processed," said a senior official of the bank.

Addressing a news conference in Hyderabad, Sudhakar Gande, managing director, GTB said: "We would like to send a letter of authority so that accounts can be opened with other banks on a temporary basis, and our depositors can continue their banking operations. We have a couple of hundred salary accounts and we want to sort out this issue as fast as possible as a lot of our customers have been inconvenienced."

Many GTB depositors prefer to open accounts with private sector banks as they are habituated to the services of such banks as opposed to a state-run entity. At the same time, customers are now being choosy in their choice of bank as they seek stability and personalised service, which our bank can provide," said a senior official of a leading private sector bank.

Then there are the other category of depositors who have had a bad run with private sector banks, are now approaching public sector banks.