The United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on January 28th held a stage demonstration in front of the head office of State Bank of Travancore in Thiruvananthapuram in order to show their anger against the merger of associate banks with the parent bank, State Bank of India.

The bank union held the protest against the visit of Bharathi Rao who is appointed as a Special Officer and Advisor especially for the purpose of handling the merger of associate banks with the SBI.

In a press release, Officer's Association General Secretary K Rajeevan said that merger would not be beneficial for either the bank or the economy. It has been opposed by almost all the unions in the banking industry ever since its proposal came forward around a year back.

Earlier also bank unions had been going on strikes to show their anger against the merger plans of SBI. They said that this would affect the staff members of associate banks but despite of such protests, SBI has successfully merged State Bank of Saurashtra with itself

Recently the bank had deferred its merger plans and said that it would concentrates more on maintenance of its financial position and overcoming slowdown.