New Delhi, December 26: A bank strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella unit for nine bank associations, is likely to affect banking services and transactions at branches of state-owned banks today. The bank strike will have no impact on private sector banks as they are not part of the shutdown. Due to the bank strike, citizens could face cash shortage as ATMs may run out of cash today. Notably, all banks were closed yesterday due to the Christmas holiday.

The UFBU called for a bank strike against issues ranging from wage settlement and bank mergers. The union asked its members not to report at work on December 26 to protest against the merger of Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank as it "will eventually lead to a decline in job opportunities, youth unemployment, lack of systematic job profiles with huge pendency of disparate work processes among merged banks and entities and a huge NPAs". Bank Strike on December 26: Why Bank Union Have Called For Hartal.

Most of the banks have already informed customers about the strike. This will be the second bank strike in less than a week. On December 21, an officers' union of state-run banks observed a day-long strike to protest against the merger and also demanded immediate settlement of wage negotiations.

The union alleged the government wants banks to grow in size by such mergers but even if all public sector banks are bundled into one, the merged entity will not find a place among the top 10 globally. The government in September approved the amalgamation of Bank of Baroda (BoB), Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank -- the first three-way merger in the public sector banking space.

Last year, top lender State Bank of India merged five of its subsidiary banks with itself and took over Bharatiya Mahila Bank, catapulting it to among the top 50 global lenders.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 26, 2018 08:23 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).