Bank of Baroda

In 1908, Sayajirao Gaekwad III, set up the Bank of Baroda , 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 big 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 , which became BoB's first domestic acquisition.

1960s

In 1961, BoB acquired 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

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 Narayanganj due to the Indo-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 , 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.

1970s

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 and Nainital Bank , both in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand respectively. Since then, Nainital Bank has expanded to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi state. Right now BoB have 99% shareholding in Nainital Bank.

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 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 , BoB would buy out its partners.

A second consortium or joint-venture bank followed in 1985. BoB , Bank of India , Central Bank of India and ZIMCO established Indo-Zambia Bank in Lusaka. That same year BoB also opened an Offshore Banking Unit in Bahrain .

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

1990s

In 1992, BoB 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'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.

In 1996, BoB Bank entered the capital market in December with an initial public offering . 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 , a restricted license bank. BoB also acquired Punjab Cooperative Bank in a rescue. BoB incorporate a wholly–owned subsidiary, BOB Capital Markets, 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 . The bank has three banking offices, two in Gaborone 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 at the Reserve Bank of India's request. BSB had been 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 , 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 on the Uganda Securities Exchange . The next year BoB opened an OBU in Mumbai.In 2004 BoB acquired the failed south 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.In 2005 BoB built a Global Data Centre in Mumbai for running its centralised banking solution 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.In 2006 BoB established an Offshore Banking Unit in Singapore.In 2007, its centenary year, BoB's total business crossed 2.09 trillion , 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.In 2008 BoB opened a branch in Guangzhou, China and in Kenton, Harrow United Kingdom. BoB opened a joint venture life insurance company with Andhra Bank and Legal & General called IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company.In 2009 Bank of Baroda was registered. As of 2017 BoB has 3 branches: two in Auckland, one in Wellington.

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.In 2011 BoB opened an Electronic Banking Service Unit at Hamriya Free Zone, Sharjah . It also opened four new branches in existing operations in Uganda, Kenya , 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. Bob also acquired Mumbai-based Memon Cooperative Bank, which had 225 employees and 15 branches in Maharashtra and three in Gujarat. It had to suspend operations in May 2009 due to its precarious financial condition.The Malaysian consortium bank, India International Bank Malaysia , 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.On 17 September 2018, the government of India proposed the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank with the Bank of Baroda, pending approval from the boards of the three banks, effectively creating the third largest lender in the country. The merger was approved by the Union Cabinet and the boards of the banks on 2 January 2019. Under the terms of the merger, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank shareholders received 110 and 402 equity shares of the Bank of Baroda, respectively, of face value ?2 for every 1,000 shares they held. The merger came into effect on 1 April 2019. Post-merger, the Bank of Baroda is the third largest bank in India, after State Bank of India and HDFC Bank. The consolidated entity has over 9,500 branches, 13,400 ATMs, 85,000 employees and serves 120 million customers. The amalgamation is the first-ever three-way consolidation of banks in the country, with a combined business of Rs14.82 trillion , making it the third largest bank after State Bank of India and ICICI Bank. Post-merger effective 1 April 2019, the bank has become the India's third largest lender behind SBI and ICICI Bank.Bank of Baroda announced in May 2019 that it would either close or rationalise 800–900 branches to increase operational efficiency and reduce duplication post-merger. The regional and zonal offices of the merged companies would also be closed. PTI quoted an unnamed senior bank official as stating that Bank of Baroda would look to expand in eastern India as it already had a strong presence in the other regions.