Ashok Kumar Pradhan, Managing Director and CEO, United Bank of India, on Saturday said that though the merger of the bank with Punjab National Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce is likely to come into force from April 1, 2020, the integration of HR and IT is expected to take more time.

“Though the balance sheet merger is likely to happen by April 1, 2020, it will take another 3-6 months post that for the HR and IT integration to be complete,” Pradhan told newspersons post an interactive meet with the Kolkata-based employees and customers of the three banks.

The complete harmonisation among the merged entities would take another 12-14 months post merger, he added. The meeting was also attended by the senior officials of PNB and OBC.

While the board of PNB has given in-principle approval for the amalgamation, United Bank and OBC will seek board approval on September 18.

The merger of Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India is likely to create the second largest bank in India. Before the proposed merger, the amalgamated entity’s capital adequacy ratio would be over 13 per cent.

The merged entity will have a “huge appetite for growth” and would be equipped with sufficient funds to finance large projects, he said.

The bank officials clarified that there has been ‘no restrictions’ on any of the three banks for fresh lending before the merger takes place.

The lenders have together formed as many as 23 working groups for various functional areas, including products, processes, human resources, credit and bad loans with participation of top officials from the three banks so as to streamline the process of amalgamation.

“The best of products, services and processes across each of these verticals will be identified and offered to the customers,” he said.

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