The merged entity will be operational from April 2020.

The Punjab National Bank (PNB), which is the anchor bank for a scheduled merger with the United Bank of India (UBI) and the Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), has said that it does not see any erosion in asset quality after the merger and the best HR, process and products will be chosen for the consolidated entity to offer a win-win situation for the combined staff and customers of these three banks.

"Everything relating to the merger is going on smoothly. We don't foresee any challenges. Other banks have done it successfully and we can repeat that. The asset quality of PNB and the merging banks will not at all suffer rather it will strengthen as they will have a collective bargaining and negotiating power with the defaulters," Sunil Mehta, the Managing Director and CEO of PNB told IANS.

"In terms of roadmaps, we have already created inter-bank committees which are interacting with each other on the best processes, products and systems to be adopted for each bank and the best will selected for a win-win situation for the customer. Similarly the best practices among the HR will be adopted for the staff."

The merged entity will be operational from April 2020.

Under the consolidation, the three banks will be merged into one entity to make the second-largest PSB with a business of Rs 17.95 lakh crore and 11,437 branches.

