Protest meeting held against LKB-CBoP merger

Kochi, Sept 30: Expressing concern over the proposed merger of Lord Krishna Bank (LKB) with Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBoP), parliamentarian Dr Sebastin Paul today demanded a 'concrete intervention' from the Centre to stall the merger as it was detrimental to the banking interests of Kerala.

Inaugurating a protest meeting of the United Forum of Bank Unions near the venue of the LKB annual general meeting (AGM) here, Mr Paul said the merger would adversely affect the interests of the common man and urged the authorities concerned to look into the matter.

Mr Chandran Pillai, MP, said the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should take steps to merge LKB with a public sector bank.

He said the proposed merger would only spell doom for the banking sector in the state as LKB gave utmost importance to social banking services.

State convenor of the forum V J John reiterated that the meger was not based on sound economic logic as CBoP has 73 per cent aggregate foreign holding and has posted huge losses in the last five years.

The forum, comprising of nine unions in the state, was extending solidarity to the ongoing agitation of the unions of LKB.

DCC president K P Dhanapalan, Mr K Babu, MLA, Mr A M Yousuf, MLA and other leaders cutting across political spectrum were present for the meeting.

UNI