The Punjab National Bank (PNB) has informed its customers about an important update regarding change in cheque book rule. The bank said on Twitter that the existing cheque books of Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank will be discontinued from October 1, 2021.
The bank asked its customers to replace their old cheque books as soon as possible.
"Dear customers, old cheque book of eOBC and eUNI are going to be discontinued from 1-10-2021. Please replace your old cheque book of eOBC and eUNI with updated PNB IFSC and MICR. Get you new cheque book from your branch or apply through ATM/IBS/PNB ONE," PNB said in a tweet on Wednesday.
"All customers are requested to use new PNB Cheque Book with updates PNB IFSC and MICR only from now onwards to avoid any transactional inconvenience," it further said in the tweet.
The new rule comes into effect after the amalgamation of OBC and United Bank into the PNB in April, 2020. Apart from these two, four other public sector banks were merged into anchor banks under government's mega consolidation plan.
{{/usCountry}}The new rule comes into effect after the amalgamation of OBC and United Bank into the PNB in April, 2020. Apart from these two, four other public sector banks were merged into anchor banks under government's mega consolidation plan.
{{/usCountry}}Under the plan, Syndicate Bank was merged into Canara Bank, Andhra Bank and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India, and Allahabad Bank into Indian Bank.
Following the consolidation, PNB has become the country's second largest after State Bank of India (SBI), Canara Bank fourth, Union Bank of India fifth and Indian Bank seventh biggest public sector lender.
There were as many as 27 public sector banks (PSBs) in 2017. After the merger, the total number of public sector banks in the country came down from 18 to 12 in the new financial year.
Ahead of the merger, PNB released a list of frequently asked questions for the customers of OBC and United Bank to help them understand how the merger will impact them.