Catholic Syrian Bank Forced To Drop 'Syrian' From Its Name

The Kerala-based Catholic Syrian Bank has renamed itself as CSB Bank Ltd, ahead of its listing on the Stock exchange.

Bank Drops ‘Syrian’ From Its Name

The decision was taken in order to remove the word ‘Syrian’ as many foreign financial institutions have ‘banned’ Syria for having any financial transactions.

The bank witnessed an exodus of NRI customers, who faced issues with foreign remittance.

In a notice to its shareholders, the bank stated that the people have been familiar with the present name locally in Kerala and nearby states for about a century.

In a statement by C V R Rajendran, Managing Director and CEO, he mentioned, “Though it has its branches in many states across the country, there is a misconception among the general public that the bank is owned by a particular community and this is not true.”

“Most of our deposits are from NRI sources. Many customers were not getting the amount in NRI remittance transactions because remittances were automatically filtered out by foreign banks on seeing the name ‘Syrian’,” he said.

He further added that both exporters and importers also suffered when the bank’s letters of credit were not accepted.

The Company believes that many of its customers even is India were apprehensive about the bank’s orientation and hesitated while conducting any business deals with the banks.

In addition, several foreign institutions believed the bank to have a foreign orientation and many foreign customers, also avoided dealing with the bank.

As the bank plans to expand all over in India and abroad, such connotation issues restrict the growth and expansion of the bank.

No Syrian connection

The Bank has dropped the word ‘Syrian’ from its name (effective June10).

The Bank now plans to list itself at Stock Market with a new name, the CSB bank, which is an acronym to Catholic Syrian Bank.

The word ‘Catholic’ signified that the bank is a community- based bank. However, at present, it’s a full fledged commercial bank with its footprints in many foreign countries.

Oldest bank of Kerala

The CSB bank is the oldest banking institution in Kerala Established in 1920,.

The majority of shares of the company are owned by India-born Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa who invested 1200 Crore in the bank last year, under his Financial Holdings Fairfax India.

CSB bank, once larger than other Kerala-headquartered bank like South Indian bank, Federal bank, and Dhanlaxmi bank, will plan for an IPO (Initial Public Offfering) in September this year.

Also Read: Centre Declines West Bengal Govt’s Proposal To Change The Name Of The State