Public sector lenders Dena Bank and UCO Bank on Tuesday ruled out their merger with market leader State Bank of India.
"It is totally baseless. It seems to be some rumour," UCO Bank chairman and managing director S K Goel told PTI when asked about reports that SBI was contemplating acquiring the two banks, besides the ongoing integration of the associate banks with itself. Such an issue has never come before the board for discussion, he said.
Dena Bank, on the other hand, debunked the report saying these were "not correct" and it had no knowledge if SBI had any discussions with others about any merger proposal.
In separate communications, the two banks informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the reports about merger with SBI were not correct.
SBI chairman O P Bhatt had earlier told PTI that the bank could be interested in large overseas acquisitions, while in India it was already in the process of integrating associate banks with itself.
The bank is currently seeking approval from the Reserve Bank of India and government for merger of State Bank of Saurashtra as the boards of the two institutions have already passed resolutions to this effect.
