LKB on strike against merger with Centurion

The employees of Lord Krishna Bank (LKB) today began an indefinite strike demanding the intervention of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the ministry of finance to block the merger of the Kerala-based bank with Mumbai-based Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP).

The United Forum of LKB Unions (UFLU), a common platform of four major trade unions in the bank, has demanded a "complete withdrawal" of the merger plan, which was finalised on September 4.

The forum also demanded that the bank should be merged with a public sector bank immediately instead of a private bank.

S K Sanil, a spokesperson of the UFLU, told Business Standard that the strike paralysed the functioning of all the branches of the bank in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and partially affected the branches in Karnataka, Mumbai and Delhi.

The boards of the two banks had approved a swap ratio of 5:7 according to which the shareholders of LKB would receive seven shares of CBC for every five shares of LKB.

The merger is expected to come into effect once the proposal is approved by the RBI. The banks will hold extraordinary general meetings in the next one month to seek the approval of the shareholders.

Various political leaders, including state chief minister V S Achuthanandan, have demanded the withdrawal of the move and sought the merger of the bank with a nationalised bank. The chief minister has also sent a letter to the Prime Minister and finance minister in this regard.