Indian Overseas Bank

Pre-World War II

In 1937, M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar established the Indian Overseas Bank to encourage overseas banking and foreign exchange operations. IOB started up simultaneously at three branches, one each in Karaikudi, Madras, and Rangoon . It quickly opened a branch in Penang, Kuala Lumpur , and another in Singapore . The bank served the Nattukottai Chettiars, who were a mercantile class that at the time had spread from Chettinad in Tamil Nadu state to Ceylon , Burma , Malaya, Singapore, Java, Sumatra, and Saigon. As a result, from the beginning IOB specialised in foreign exchange and overseas banking . Due to the war, IOB lost its branches in Rangoon and Penang, and Singapore, though the branch in Singapore resumed operations in 1942 under Japanese supervision.

After World War II

In 1945 or 1946 IOB opened a branch in Colombo. In 1947, IOB opened a branch in Bangkok. Then IOB added a branch each in Ipoh, Klang, and Malacca, all in Malaya. Some years later, in 1955, IOB opened its first branch in Hong Kong. Others would follow.

In 1963 the revolutionary government in Burma nationalised Indian Overseas Bank's branches in Rangoon, Mandalay, and Moulmein, which became People's Bank No. 4.In the 1960s, the banking sector in India was consolidating through the merger of weak private sector banks with stronger ones. IOB acquired a number of local banks: Coimbatore Standard Bank , Nanjinnad Bank , Coimbatore Vasunthara Bank , Kulitalai Bank , Srinivasa Perumal Bank , and Venkateswara Bank .

Then in 1969, the Government of India nationalized IOB. At one point, probably before nationalization, IOB had twenty of its eighty branches located overseas. However, Malaysian law forbade foreign government ownership of banks in Malaysia. After nationalization Indian Overseas Bank, like all the nationalized banks, turned inward, emphasizing the opening of branches in rural India.

In 1973, IOB, Indian Bank, and United Commercial Bank established United Asian Bank Berhad in Malaysia. The banks set up United Asian to comply with the Banking Law in Malaysia, which prohibited foreign government banks from operating in the country. Each contributed their operations in Malaysia to the new joint-venture bank, with each of the three-parent banks owning a third of the shares. At the time, Indian Bank had three branches, and Indian Overseas Bank and United Commercial Bank had eight between them. Also, IOB and six Indian private banks established Bharat Overseas Bank as a Chennai-based private bank to take over IOB's Bangkok branch.

In 1977 IOB opened a branch in Seoul. it also opened a branch in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Two years later, IOB opened a foreign currency banking unit in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In 1983 ethnic sectarian violence in the form of anti-Tamil riots resulted in the burning of IOB's branch in Colombo. Indian Bank, which may have had stronger ties to the Sinhalese population, escaped unscathed.In 1988–89, IOB acquired Bank of Tamil Nadu, and its 99 branches, in a rescue. Bank of Tamil Nadu , had been established in 1903 in Tirunelveli as the South India Bank.

In 1992 Bank of Commerce , a Malaysian bank, acquired United Asian Bank .

The new millennium

In 2000, IOB engaged in an initial public offering that brought the government's share in the bank's equity down to 75%. In 2001 IOB acquired the Mumbai-based Adarsha Janata Sahakari Bank, which gave it a branch in Mumbai. Then in 2009 IOB took over Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank, which was founded in 1969 and had its head office in Pune. Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank had been in administration since 2006. It had nine branches in Pune, two in Mumbai and one in Shirpur. The total employee strength was estimated to be little over 100.

IOB opened an extension counter at New Kathiresan Temple complex, Bambalapitiya, Sri Lanka, on 29 August 2003.

In 2005 IOB opened a representative office in Guangzhou, China. The next year IOB opened another representative office, this time in Kuala Lumpur. In 2009 IOB opened a Representative office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

In the new millennium, international expansion picked up once again. In 2007, IOB took over Bharat Overseas Bank. Then in 2009 IOB acquired Pune-based Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank, which had been established in 1969; the bank had nine branches in Pune, two in Mumbai, and one in Shripur.

In 2010 Malaysia awarded a commercial banking license to a locally incorporated bank to be jointly owned by Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank. The new bank, India International Bank , commenced operations in 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, which has a large population of Indians. Andhra Bank holds a 25% stake in the joint-venture, Bank of Baroda owns 40%, and IOB the remaining 35%.

IOB opened an Offshore Banking Unit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 31 August 2013. The bank also upgraded its existing Extension Counter at Bambalapitiya into a full-fledged branch.

Today, Indian Overseas Bank covers a vast domain in the banking sector with over 3214 domestic branches, 3270 ATMs and 4 overseas branches.

IOB is now aggressively focussing on ‘digital banking’, with a view to doing away with all the paperwork like cheques, pay-in slips, demand drafts and so on, through its robust digital platform. Through Digital Banking, IOB wants to give its customers the luxury of freely accessing and performing all traditional banking activities 24x7 without having to personally go to a bank branch to get one’s work done. Digital Banking with IOB is possible through a laptop, tablet or one’s mobile phone. Over the last few years, Digital Banking has drastically changed the way IOB and its customers interact with each other. More and more IOB customers are today being connected to its Digital Banking platform with each passing day.