Proposal to amend some clauses in Articles of Association
THRISSUR: CSB Bank, formerly Catholic Syrian Bank, is planning to merge 19 branches of the bank with the nearest branches with the intention of reducing overall costs and improve productivity, the bank said in a filing made to the stock markets.
The board meeting on March 16 has also approved a proposal to amend a few clauses in the Articles of Association of the bank. “The proposed amendment is subject to the approval of the shareholders and Reserve Bank of India upon which, the amended Articles of Association of the Bank will be submitted in the prescribed format,” the statement added.
The bank which got a capital infusion of Rs1200 crore from Fairfax against an equity stake of close to 51 per cent in the bank, has said it has ambitious plans to increase its branch network by 425 branches.
CSB has concluded an IPO in November last raising about Rs410 crore though most of it had come through offer for sale (OFS) with the issue of new shares having raised only ahout Rs24 crore.
CSB with branch network of 414 branches (excluding three service branches and two asset recovery branches) and 277 ATMs spread across 16 states and four union territories has 63 per cent of its branches or 260 branches operating from the state of Kerala alone.
There were reports that there is a lot of overlapping of branches in Kerala and many of them will have to be closed down or relocated. According to sources, most of the branches earmarked for merger should be from Kerala alone.
