The mood at the corporate headquarters of ING Vysya Bank in Bengaluru was a little sombre today as the news of the bank's acquisition by Kotak Mahindra Bank spread across the bank. The worried employees were seen discussing the pros and cons of the merger and the future of their employment in the merged entity.
Employees in smaller groups were seen talking about the development and exchanging information they were privy to with others. A large number of them were worried that post-merger their jobs might become redundant and they might be removed.
A cross section of the employees told Business Standard that overall the merger sounds a great news for them as they will become a part of the larger banking entity. However, there could be duplication of some positions like zonal managers, regional managers and sales heads, which may have to lose their jobs or get transferred to different places.
ING Vysya Bank has 10,591 employees, while KMB has 29,220 employees.
Welcoming the merger with Kotak Mahindra Bank, an employee said his job might be at risk because he is not working in a branch and there would be no need to have two similar persons working in the same job.
"I have never seen such a depressed mood among the employees in this office in the past," said a senior employee of ING Vysya outside the corporate head office.
However, many others felt excited that they will now be part of a fourth largest private bank in the country. "I am excited to be part of a fourth largest private bank in the country. I am sure, there will be lot of growth opportunities for ING Vysya employees across Kotak Group. We will be part of a larger and deeper pan India bank," said Prateek Tiwari, Branch Head of ING Vysya Bank's Vittal Mallya Road branch.
He thinks the merger will provide ING Vysya employees to open up to new challenges because the Kotak Mahindra Bank has presence in segments like online trading, larger insurance play among others. At the same time, he feels, the Kotak Mahindra Bank would benefit from the larger international client base. It will also benefit from ING's digital and mobile banking platforms.
ING Vysya's diverse customer segments with more than two million customers, will now have access to Kotak's wide product suite across financial services, he added.
"With 1,214 branches and 1,794 ATMs in the merged entity, we will give tough competition to other private banks. Our aim will be to achieve 15 per cent return on investment by end of FY16," said another employee.
At the same time, customers of ING Vysya Bank have wholeheartedly welcomed the merger saying that it does not make much difference to them because all banks are equally regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
"I am happy with the merger. Both ING Vysya and Kotak Mahindra are good banks. There is no worry for me as they both are regulated by the RBI," said Shankar, an employee of Cafe Coffee Day, who holds an account with ING Vysya Bank.
Ramesh R K, another account holder with ING Vysya Bank said, "I am very happy to hold an account here. This is the best bank in terms of offering high security and provides good service through its products. I don't know how Kotak Mahindra Bank functions and hope my experience with them will be the same."
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