Bank labour unions have expressed concern over the possibility of a move to take over the four old generation private banks in Kerala. Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) said that “any such attempt would have far reaching consequences in the Kerala society”.

Established in the first half of the 20th century, the Thrissur based – Dhanlaxmi Bank, South Indian Bank, Catholic Syrian Bank and the Aluva based Federal Bank – have played a vital role in the society especially in extending initiatives like mass banking as well as imparting financial literacy for the well-being of the rural folk.

BEFI said that of late, certain large corporate banks are eyeing these banks, which is evident from the accumulation of shares in bulk. Alleging that a major part of the shares now being purchased are by NRI investors whose interest is only in trading profits, T. Narendran, president, BEFI-Kerala region, said this assumes greater significance in the context of the merger of associate banks with State Bank of India.

He said there are hardly any legal bottlenecks in the country for merger of banks in the existing legal framework. Besides, the Central Government's decision to increase the NRI participation in private banks to 74 per cent has made the things easy, he added.

BEFI also alleged that the Centre is going ahead with its plan to merge the remaining 22 public sector banks in order to create six large banks. He said BEFI has chalked out a strong action plan against closing down of branches, outsourcing work to third parties etc.