Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 2: Two banks which were born in Karnataka coast and reached dizzy heights during their illustrious existence of about a century, have slunk to the oblivion with their mega merger with bigger banks. Syndicate Bank and Corporation Bank have ceased to exist, and Vijaya Bank, also from coastal Karnataka, had been merged with Bank of Baroda exactly a year ago.

Syndicate Bank was started in 1925 by Upendra Pai, Dr TMA Pai and Vaman Kudva with the name, 'Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Ltd' with an initial capital of Rs 8,000. The bank's novel initiative of conducting door to door visits on a daily basis to pool the customers’ savings later won tremendous popularity as Pigmy deposit. The bank set up its clearing house at Mumbai in 1937 and head office at Manipal in 1964 by changing its name as 'Syndicate Bank'. When the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, decided to nationalize several banks, Dr TMA Pai had welcomed the decision. The bank opened its corporate office at Bengaluru in the year 2000 after which the bank's Manipal office lost its sheen to a considerable extent.

Syndicate Bank (left) and Corporation Bank

The bank, which has about 4,000 branches, has been merged with Canara Bank, another eminent bank which originated at Mangaluru in 1906.

Corporation Bank was founded in 1906 at Udupi with Haji Abdulla Saheb as its founder president. In course of time, the bank's head office was shifted to Mangaluru. The house in which Abdullal Saheb resided has been converted by the bank as heritage museum.

The Bank, started with a capital of Rs 5,000 now has 2,432 branches. On April 1, the bank was merged with Union Bank of India and therefore has lost its identity.

Both these banks will remain etched in the minds of people of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district as they had branches in even small villages and sparsely populated areas and the locals were served well by their staff members.