State Bank of India is likely to shift its centralised global back office and some other foreign exchange related departments from Kolkata to Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, in yet another move to centralize operations.
The back office was set up in 2015 in the City of Joy when Anundhati Bhattacharya was the chairperson of the bank. The back office works 22×7 to cater to customers in Sydney, Bahrain, Hong Kong, London and New York.
The bank has not formally announced the move but started preparing grounds for it, three people aware of the development said.
SBI did not comment on the matter.
According to people cited above, the country’s largest lender may also shift the foreign currency desk and the derivatives & structured products desk housed in Jeevan Sudha building, one of the major landmarks in Chowringhee, the central business district of the city.
These three operations are part of SBI’s global market unit, which has altogether 10 departments under it including international remittances. The three departments under question are manned by 36 officers.
SBI has over time shifted several of its key functions to Mumbai from Kolkata, shedding its legacy. It had shifted its forex dealing room in 1999 and rupee desk in 2008 from Kolkata and Mumbai. It had also closed down the central accounts office in the city earlier and shifted the registered office of the bank from Kolkata to Mumbai.
“The global market unit generates significant revenue,” said Soumya Datta, former general secretary of All India State Bank Officers’ Federation. He is also the joint convenor of Bank Bachao Desh Bachao Manch, an independent civil society movement, which appealed to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerje to take steps to thwart the move.
“We appeal to your good office to initiate suitable measures to ensure that the operations of the prestigious global market unit of Kolkata continues to function from Kolkata,” Datta said in a letter dated March 17 to the chief minister.
The origin of the SBI dates back to 1806 with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta, which was later renamed Bank of Bengal and then Imperial Bank of India following the merger of Bank of Bengal Bank of Bombay and Bank of Madras. The name State Bank of India was adopted in 1955 when it was nationalized by the government.
