AIBOC opposes Centurion Bank's takeover bid

Bangalore, Aug 24 (UNI) All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) today expressed its opposition to the Centurion Bank's move to takeover the Lord Krishna Bank and threatened to launch an agitation if the move was not dropped.

In a release here, AIBOC General Secretary Shantha Raju said ''We are very much perturbed to come across reports in respect of attempts by the Centurion Bank to take over Lord Krishna Bank which has a long standing regional identity and has been serving Kerala-based customers.'' If the takeover was not deferred, the employees and officers of the Banking industry in general and the Lord Krishna Bank in particular would stage relentless struggle to halt the take-over process, he warned.

Mr Raju alleged that the many employees of the Bank of Madura, which was taken over by the ICICI Bank, were shown the door through the Voluntary Retriment Scheme route.

He said ''we have always been maintaining that the old generation Private Sector Banks should be allowed to continue in their present form. As regards restructuring the Banking Industry, first priority should be nationalisation of all Private Sector Banks in one go and may be merged among themselves.'' Expressing strong opposition to merger of old generation Private Sector Banks with foreign banks or new generation private banks in any manner whatsoever, he pointed out that the recent debacle of the Global Trust Bank, which had to be salvaged by the Government by solemnising its marriage with the Oriental Bank of Commerce should serve as an eye-opener.

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