Catholic Syrian Bank
Encyclopedia
Catholic Syrian Bank Limited is a private sector bank
situated in Thrissur
city of Kerala
state in India
. Catholic Syrian Bank has 363 branches, 1 extension counter and over 125 ATMs, and a net profit of Rs 36.56 crore in 2007-08 on revenues of Rs 50 crore. Catholic Syrian Bank has a strong presence in rural India and around 80% of the bank’s branches are located in the semi-urban and rural areas of India.
city and commenced business on January 1, 1921 with an authorised capital of Rs 5 lakhs and a paid up capital of Rs 4,5270. In August 1969, the bank was included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934. In 1975, the bank attained the status of "A" Class Scheduled Bank when its total deposits crossed Rs 25 crores.
had vehemently opposed the merger. All the political parties had also supported the church’s views as it has a big hold among the electorates of the central districts of Kerala. Earlier, the Catholic Church even mooted a proposal to purchase the shares owned by Surachan Chansri Chawla, a Bangkok-based Indian businessman who holds a 23 per cent stake in CSB, in order to have more say in the bank.
A “CSB Protection Committee”, which has Archbishop of the Thrissur as patron, has been formed to oppose the merger with the Federal Bank. The committee said that any attempt to merge CSB with any other bank would be resisted. It added that to ensure that “the bank which is dear to the people of Thrissur retains its identity, it will line up investors to buy CSB shares. The church has in the past opposed a takeover of CSB; in the mid-’90s when Surachan Chawla bought a stake of about 38%, the church, led by then bishop Joseph Kundukulam, had said any attempt to take over the bank had to be opposed. In February, 2010, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur raised around Rs 250 crore from NRI investors from the state to buy a substantial stake in the bank. This amount would be used to buy around 30% stake in the bank. If the church manages to buy the stakes of Chawla and the Mauritius-based PEs, it would enable the Christian community to ensure an indirect control on the management of the Catholic Syrian Bank. The Church already enjoys a significant control over the bank through various investors, who would stand for community’s interest.
-based Siam Vidya Group, had acquired 36.18 percent equity of Catholic Syrian Bank. However, the shares were not transferred to the group consequent on objections raised by the Reserve Bank of India
. Subsequently, the Supreme Court had directed the RBI to grant permission for the transfer of shares to the Group subject to the conditions that the Group should divest 26.18 percent shares, after retaining about 10 percent with it, on or before August 1, 2008.
Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the Group divested a little over 11 percent shares and for the transfer of 15 percent shares in excess of 10 percent permitted to be held by the Group, extension was obtained from the RBI till March 31, 2010. The group transferred the 15 percent shares of the Catholic Syrian Bank to a group 15 persons settled in Thailand.
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
situated in Thrissur
Thrissur
This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...
city of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
state in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Catholic Syrian Bank has 363 branches, 1 extension counter and over 125 ATMs, and a net profit of Rs 36.56 crore in 2007-08 on revenues of Rs 50 crore. Catholic Syrian Bank has a strong presence in rural India and around 80% of the bank’s branches are located in the semi-urban and rural areas of India.
History
The Catholic Syrian Bank was founded on November 26, 1920 in ThrissurThrissur
This article is about the city in India. For the district, see Thrissur district. For the urban agglomeration area of Thrissur see Thrissur Metropolitan Area...
city and commenced business on January 1, 1921 with an authorised capital of Rs 5 lakhs and a paid up capital of Rs 4,5270. In August 1969, the bank was included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934. In 1975, the bank attained the status of "A" Class Scheduled Bank when its total deposits crossed Rs 25 crores.
Merger with Federal Bank
Aluva-based Federal Bank in 2008 has proposed the merger with CSB. The other largest shareholder in CSB is Thailand-based NRI, Surachan Chawla with a 21% stake. After the Reserve Bank of India’s mandate to bring down his stake to 10% per cent, Chawla reduced his exposure to 21% in 2008 from 34 per cent in 1994. While Federal Bank and L&T hold 5% each, a group of local investors hold close to 14%, the Mauritius-based AIF Capital India owns 15%, Edelweiss has 2% and the rest is held by the public. Chawla has also agreed to sell his stake to Federal Bank, but the value is not known. Chawla and AIF Capital Development have one man each on the eleven member board. Federal Bank had mandated KPMG to conduct a financial due-diligence in September, 2009 to consider the merger proposal between the banks. It is learnt that KPMG valued CSB at a little over Rs 400 crore, on the basis of which Federal Bank made an offer. In 2010, official in the CSB close to the development said that any hopes of a merger can be given a burial after due to differences over valuation.Opposition to the merger
The merger of the Federal Bank and Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) had been opposed by the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur. The church had been opposing the move, saying that the regional identity of the bank would be lost due to the proposed merger. In particular, the Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur Mar Andrews ThazhathAndrews Thazhath
Mar Andrews Thazhath is the third and the present Metropolitan Archbishop of Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur from . He was nominated as the Archbishop succeeding Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhy on January 22, 2007 and was installed to the office on March 18, 2007 by Mar Cardinal Varkey...
had vehemently opposed the merger. All the political parties had also supported the church’s views as it has a big hold among the electorates of the central districts of Kerala. Earlier, the Catholic Church even mooted a proposal to purchase the shares owned by Surachan Chansri Chawla, a Bangkok-based Indian businessman who holds a 23 per cent stake in CSB, in order to have more say in the bank.
A “CSB Protection Committee”, which has Archbishop of the Thrissur as patron, has been formed to oppose the merger with the Federal Bank. The committee said that any attempt to merge CSB with any other bank would be resisted. It added that to ensure that “the bank which is dear to the people of Thrissur retains its identity, it will line up investors to buy CSB shares. The church has in the past opposed a takeover of CSB; in the mid-’90s when Surachan Chawla bought a stake of about 38%, the church, led by then bishop Joseph Kundukulam, had said any attempt to take over the bank had to be opposed. In February, 2010, the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archdiocese of Thrissur raised around Rs 250 crore from NRI investors from the state to buy a substantial stake in the bank. This amount would be used to buy around 30% stake in the bank. If the church manages to buy the stakes of Chawla and the Mauritius-based PEs, it would enable the Christian community to ensure an indirect control on the management of the Catholic Syrian Bank. The Church already enjoys a significant control over the bank through various investors, who would stand for community’s interest.
Sura Chansrichawla controversy
In 1994, Sura Chansrichawla, Chairman of the BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
-based Siam Vidya Group, had acquired 36.18 percent equity of Catholic Syrian Bank. However, the shares were not transferred to the group consequent on objections raised by the Reserve Bank of India
Reserve Bank of India
The Reserve Bank of India is the central banking institution of India and controls the monetary policy of the rupee as well as US$300.21 billion of currency reserves. The institution was established on 1 April 1935 during the British Raj in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of...
. Subsequently, the Supreme Court had directed the RBI to grant permission for the transfer of shares to the Group subject to the conditions that the Group should divest 26.18 percent shares, after retaining about 10 percent with it, on or before August 1, 2008.
Following the directions of the Supreme Court, the Group divested a little over 11 percent shares and for the transfer of 15 percent shares in excess of 10 percent permitted to be held by the Group, extension was obtained from the RBI till March 31, 2010. The group transferred the 15 percent shares of the Catholic Syrian Bank to a group 15 persons settled in Thailand.
Core Banking
Catholic Syrian Bank has chosen Sun Microsystems to implement its core banking solution (CBS) that will help customers access the bank’s services through the branches, Website and ATMs (automated teller machines). CSB will Rs 40 crore on the solution, which includes hardware, software, application and network. The centralised banking solution (called Maarvel) was developed jointly with Laser Soft, a Chennai-based company. Sun has provided servers and storage devices and Wipro is the system integrator.).Board of directors
- VP Iswardas - Managing Director & CEO
- Ajay Lal
- S Swaminathan
- Prakash G.Tole
- CF John
- Jos C Chakko
- CKGopinathan
- NR Achan
- S Santhanakrishnan
- Rakesh Mathur
- G Sreekumar
- K Ipe Peter
- TS Anatharaman
- Sumeer Bhasin