Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said it has not approved the announcement of a merger between Lakshmi Vilas Bank and Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited.
The clarification comes after media reports suggested that the two firms had entered into a merger on April 5.
“Reserve Bank of India has learned through media reports that Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IBHFL) have made a merger announcement on April 5, 2019, with the approval of their respective Boards. It has been reported in a section of the media that the presence of two nominee directors of the RBI on the Board of LVB implies RBI’s indirect approval of the proposal,” read a statement issued by Chief General Manager Yogesh Dayal on Saturday.
The RBI went on to say that the presence of Additional Directors nominated by the central bank on the Board of LVB “does not imply any approval of the RBI of the merger proposal.” Moreover, the Additional Directors have clearly mentioned at the meeting that they have no view on the proposal, it added.
“It is clarified that the merger announcement does not have any approval of RBI at this stage. The proposals, as and when received from these entities, will be examined in RBI as per extant regulatory guidelines/directions,” the statement further said.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]