State Bank of India says does not expect bad loan surprises post merger

MUMBAI (Reuters) - State Bank of India, the nation's top lender by assets, expects to save costs and gain scale after merging its five subsidiary banks with itself, senior executives said on Monday, adding that there will be no big surprises in terms of bad loans after the merger.

State Bank of India merged its five Associate Banks - State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore, along with Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself effective April 1, 2017.

With this merger, State Bank of India said it will join the league of top 50 banks globally in terms of assets.

Post-merger, all the customers of associate Banks will enjoy access to a wide array of digital products and services offered by the State Bank of India, the lender said.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Writing by Swati Bhat; Editing by Euan Rocha)