History of Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda(BOB) is an Indian Multinational, public sector Banking and Financial Services company. It is the third largest public sector bank in India post merger with a business mix of close to US$225 billion.

Based on 2019 data, it is ranked 1145 on Forbes Global 2000 list. BoB has total assets in excess of Rs.3.58 trillion (making it India's 2nd biggest bank by assets), a network of 9583 branches in India and abroad, and 10442 ATMs as of July, 2017. The government of India announced the merger of Bank of Baroda, Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank on September 17, 2018, to create the country's third largest lender. The amalgamation is the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in the country, with a combined business of Rs 14.82 lakh crore, making it the third largest bank after State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank.

The Maharaja of Baroda, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, founded the bank on 20 July 1908 in the Princely State of Baroda, in Gujarat. The Government of India nationalized the bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India on 19 July 1969; the bank has been designated as a profit-making public sector undertaking(PSU).

As many as 10 banks have been merged with Bank of Baroda to date.

History

1908–1959

In 1908, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, one of the knights of the Maratha Kingdom, set up the Bank of Baroda (BoB), with other stalwarts of industry such as Sampatrao Gaekwad, Ralph Whitenack, Vithaldas Thakersey, Tulsidas Kilachand and NM Chokshi. Two years later, BoB established its first branch in Ahmedabad. The bank grew domestically until after World War II. Then in 1953 it crossed the Indian Ocean to serve the communities of Indians in Kenya and Indians in Uganda by establishing a branch each in Mombasa and Kampala. The next year it opened a second branch in Kenya, in Nairobi, and in 1956 it opened a branch in Tanzania at Dar-es-Salaam. Then in 1957 BoB took a giant step abroad by establishing a branch in London. London was the center of the British Commonwealth and the most important international banking center. In 1958 BoB acquired Hind Bank (Calcutta; est. 1943), which became BoB's first domestic acquisition.

1960s

In 1961, BoB merged in New Citizen Bank of India. This merger helped it increase its branch network in Maharashtra. BoB also opened a branch in Fiji. The next year it opened a branch in Mauritius. Bank of Baroda In 1963, BoB acquired Surat Banking Corporation in Surat, Gujarat. The next year BoB acquired two banks: Umbergaon People’s Bank in southern Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Central Bank in Tamil Nadu state.

In 1965, BoB opened a branch in Guyana. That same year BoB lost its branch in Narayanjanj (East Pakistan) due to theIndo-Pakistani War of 1965. It is unclear when BoB had opened the branch. In 1967 it suffered a second loss of branches when the Tanzanian government nationalised BoB’s three branches there at (Dar es Salaam, Mwanga, and Moshi), and transferred their operations to the Tanzanian government-owned National Banking Corporation.

In 1969 the Indian government nationalised 14 top banks, including BoB. BoB incorporated its operations in Uganda as a 51% subsidiary, with the government owning the rest.

1972s

In 1972, BoB acquired Bank of India's operations in Uganda. Two years later, BoB opened a branch each in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Back in India, in 1975, BoB acquired the majority shareholding and management control of Bareilly Corporation Bank (est. 1928) and Nainital Bank (est. in 1954), both in Uttar Pradesh. Since then, Nainital Bank has expanded to Uttarakhand state.

International expansion continued in 1976 with the opening of a branch in Oman and another in Brussels. The Brussels branch was aimed at Indian firms from Mumbai (Bombay) engaged in diamond cutting and jewellery having business in Antwerp, a major center for diamond cutting.

Two years later, BoB opened a branch in New York and another in the Seychelles. Then in 1979, BoB opened a branch in Nassau, the Bahamas.

1980s

In 1980, BoB opened a branch in Bahrain and a representative office in Sydney, Australia. BoB, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank established IUB International Finance, a licensed deposit taker, in Hong Kong. Each of the three banks took an equal share. Eventually (in 1999), BoB would buy out its partners.

A second consortium or joint-ventrue bank followed in 1985. BoB (20%), Bank of India (20%), Central Bank of India (20%) and ZIMCO (Zambian government; 40%) established Indo-Zambia Bank in Lusaka. That same year BoB also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Bahrain.

Back in India, in 1988, BoB acquired Traders Bank, which had a network of 34 branches in Delhi.

1990s

In 1992, Boe opened an OBU in Mauritius, but closed its representative office in Sydney. The next year BoB took over the London branches of Union Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank (P&S). P&S’s branch had been established before 1970 and Union Bank’s after 1980. The Reserve Bank of India ordered the takeover of the two following the banks' involvement in the Sethia fraud in 1987 and subsequent losses.

Then in 1992 BoB incorporated its operations in Kenya into a local subsidiary with a small tranche of shares quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The next year, BoB closed its OBU in Bahrain.

In 1996, BoB Bank entered the capital market in December with an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Government of India is still the largest shareholder, owning 66% of the bank's equity.

In 1997, BoB opened a branch in Durban. The next year BoB bought out its partners in IUB International Finance in Hong Kong. Apparently this was a response to regulatory changes following Hong Kong’s reversion to the People’s Republic of China. The now wholly owned subsidiary became Bank of Baroda (Hong Kong), a restricted license bank. BoB also acquired Punjab Cooperative Bank in a rescue. BoB incorporate wholly owned subsidiary BOB Capital Markets Ltd for broking business.

In 1999, BoB merged in Bareilly Corporation Bank in another rescue. At the time, Bareilly had 64 branches, including four in Delhi. In Guyana, BoB incorporated its branch as a subsidiary, Bank of Baroda Guyana. BoB added a branch in Mauritius and closed its Harrow Branch in London.

2000s

In 2000 BoB established Bank of Baroda (Botswana). The bank has three banking offices, two in Gaberone and one in Francistown. In 2002, BoB converted its subsidiary in Hong Kong from deposit taking company to a Restricted License Bank.

In 2002 BoB acquired Benares State Bank (BSB) at the Reserve Bank of India’s request. BSB was established in 1946 but traced its origins back to 1871 and its function as the treasury office of the Benares state. In 1964, BSB had acquired Bareilly Bank (est. 1934), with seven branches in western districts of Uttar Pradesh; BSB also had taken over Lucknow Bank in 1968. The acquisition of BSB brought BoB 105 new branches. Lucknow Bank, a unit bank with its only office in Aminabad, had been established in 1913. Also in 2002, BoB listed Bank of Baroda (Uganda) on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE). The next year BoB opened an OBU inMumbai.

In 2004 BoB acquired the failed Gujarat Local Area Bank. BoB also returned to Tanzania by establishing a subsidiary in Dar-es-Salaam. BoB also opened a representative office each in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Guangdong, China.

·         2005: BoB built a Global Data Centre (DC) in Mumbai for running its centralised banking solution (CBS) and other applications in more than 1,900 branches across India and 20 other counties where the bank operates. BoB also opened a representative office in Thailand.

·         2006: BoB established an Offshrore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore.

·         2007: In its centenary year, BoB’s total business crossed 2.09 trillion (short scale), its branches crossed 2000, and its global customer base 29 million people. In Hong Kong, Bank got Full Fledged Banking license and business of its Restricted License Banking subsidiary was taken over Bank of Baroda branch in Hong Kong w.e.f.01.04.2007.

·         2008: BoB opened a branch in Guangzhou, China (02/08/2008) and in Kenton, Harrow United Kingdom. BoB opened a joint venture life insurance company with Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK) called IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company.

2010s

In 2010, Malaysia awarded a commercial banking licence to a locally incorporated bank to be jointly owned by Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank. That same year, BoB also opened a branch in New Zealand.

In 2011, BoB opened an Electronic Banking Service Unit (EBSU) was opened at Hamriya Free Zone, Sharjah (UAE). It also opened four new branches in existing operations in Uganda, Kenya (2), and Guyana. BoB closed its representative office in Malaysia in anticipation of the opening of its consortium bank there. BoB received 'In Principle' approval for the upgrading of its representative office in Australia to a branch.

The Malaysian consortium bank, India International Bank Malaysia (IIBM), finally opened in Kuala Lumpur, which has a large population of Indians. BOB owns 40%, Andhra Bank owns 25%, and IOB the remaining 35% of the share capital. IIBM seeks to open five branches within its first year of operations in Malaysia, and intends to grow to 15 branches within the next three years.

Subsidiaries

BOB Capital Markets (BOBCAPS) is a SEBI-registered investment banking company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. Its financial services portfolio includes initial public offerings, private placement of debts, corporate restructuring, business valuation, mergers and acquisition, project appraisal, loan syndication, institutional equity research, and brokerage.

Bobcards Ltd is a credit card company, 100% subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. The company is in the business of Credit cards, Acquiring Business & back end support for Debit cards operations to Bank of Baroda. Bank of Baroda had introduced its first charged card named BOBCARD in the year 1984. The whole operation of this plastic card was managed by Credit card division of Bank of Baroda. It established a wholly owned subsidiary, Bobcards Limited in the year 1994 to cater to the need of rapidly growing credit card industry in a focused manner. BOBCARDS Ltd is the first Non-banking company in India issuing credit cards

International presence

In its international expansion, the Bank of Baroda followed the Indian diaspora, especially that of Gujaratis. The Bank has 104 branches/offices in 24 countries including 61 branches/offices of the bank, 38 branches of its 8 subsidiaries and 1 representative office in Thailand. The Bank of Baroda has a joint venture in Zambia with 16 branches.

Among the Bank of Baroda’s overseas branches are ones in the world’s major financial centres (e.g., New York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Brussels and Singapore), as well as a number in other countries. The bank is engaged in retail banking via the branches of subsidiaries in Botswana, Guyana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The bank plans has recently upgraded its representative office in Australia to a branch and set up a joint venture commercial bank in Malaysia. It has a large presence in Mauritius with about nine branches spread out in the country.

The Bank of Baroda has received permission or in-principle approval from host country regulators to open new offices in Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana, where it seeks to establish joint ventures or subsidiaries. The bank has received Reserve Bank of India approval to open offices in the Maldives, and New Zealand. It is seeking approval for operations in Bahrain, South Africa, Kuwait, Mozambique, and Qatar, and is establishing offices in Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. It also has plans to extend its existing operations in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Botswana.

The tagline of Bank of Baroda is "India's International Bank".

Affiliates

IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between Bank of Baroda (44%) and fellow Indian state-owned bank Andhra Bank (30%), and UK’s financial and investment company Legal & General (26%). It was incorporated in November, 2009 and has its headquarters in Mumbai. The company started strongly, achieving a turnover in excess of ₹ 2 billion in its first four and half months.

Corporate Centre

Bank Of Baroda Baroda Corporate Centre, Plot No - C-26, G - Block, Bandra - Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400051 Phone :(022) 6698 5000- 04 Fax    :(022) 2652 3500

Head Office
Bank of Baroda Suraj Plaza-1, Sayaji Ganj, Vadodara -390020	Bank of Baroda Baroda House, Baroda-396006
Phone : (0265)2307852/2361852 Fax     : (0265)2362914	Phone : (0265)2576402 Fax     : (0265)2517813