# Canara Bank

Canara Bank is an Indian public sector bank based in Bangalore, India. Established in 1906 at Mangalore by Ammembal Subba Rao Pai. The bank was nationalized in 1969. Canara Bank also has offices in London, Dubai and New York.

## History

Ammembal Subba Rao Pai, a philanthropist, established the Canara Hindu Permanent Fund in Mangalore, India, on 1 July 1906.
Canara Bank's first acquisition took place in 1961 when it acquired Bank of Kerala. This had been founded in September 1944 and at the time of its acquisition on 20 May 1961 had three branches. The second bank that Canara Bank acquired was Seasia Midland Bank (Alleppey), which had been established on 26 July 1930 and had seven branches at the time of its takeover.
In 1958, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered Canara Bank to acquire G. Raghumathmul Bank, in Hyderabad. This bank had been established in 1870, and had converted to a limited company in 1925. At the time of the acquisition G. Raghumathmul Bank had five branches. The merger took effect in 1961. Later in 1961, Canara Bank acquired Trivandrum Permanent Bank. This had been founded on 7 February 1899 and had 14 branches at the time of the merger.
Canara Bank acquired four banks in 1963: the Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank, Thrippunithura, Arnad Bank, Tiruchirapalli, Cochin Commercial Bank, Cochin, and Pandyan Bank, Madurai. Sree Poornathrayeesa Vilasam Bank had been established on 21 February 1923 and at the time of its acquisition it had 14 branches. Arnad Bank had been established on 23 December 1942 and at the time of its acquisition had only one branch. Cochin Commercial Bank had been established on 3 January 1936, and at the time of its acquisition had 13 branches.
The Government of India nationalised Canara Bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks in India, on 19 July 1969. Karkala Pulkeri Janardhan Prabhu (KPJ Prabhu) served as chairman of the bank post nationalisation. In 1976, Canara Bank inaugurated its 1000th branch. In 1985, Canara Bank acquired Lakshmi Commercial Bank in a rescue.
In 1996, Canara Bank became the first Indian Bank to get ISO certification for "Total Branch Banking" for its Seshadripuram branch in Bangalore. Canara Bank has now stopped opting for ISO certification of branches.
On 30 August 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Syndicate Bank would be merged with Canara Bank. The proposed merger would create the fourth largest public sector bank in the country with total business of ₹15.20 lakh crore (US$170 billion) and 10,324 branches. The Board of Directors of Canara Bank approved the merger on 13 September. The Union Cabinet approved the merger on 4 March 2020. The merger was completed on 1 April 2020 with Syndicate Bank shareholders receiving 158 equity shares in the former for every 1,000 shares they hold.

## Shareholding

As of December 2023, the promoter holding at the bank is 62.93% and the public holding is 37.07%.

## Subsidiary companies
### Domestic subsidiaries

1. Canfin Homes Limited (CFHL)- A network of 110 branches and 28 satellite offices throughout India
2. Canbank Factors Limited
3. Canbank Venture Capital Fund Limited
4. Canbank Computer Services Limited
5. Canara Bank Securities Limited
6. Canara Robeco Asset Management Company Limited
7. Canbank Financial Services Limited

### Joint ventures

1. Canara HSBC Life Insurance

### Foreign branches

1. London branch (U.K.)
2. New York branch (U.S.A.)
3. Dubai International Financial Centre branch (UAE)

### Overseas subsidiaries

1. Canara Bank (Tanzania) Ltd.

### International wealth management

Since 1983, Canara Bank has been responsible for the management of Eastern Exchange Co. WLL, Doha, Qatar, which Abdul Rahman M.M. Al Muftah established in 1979.

## Regional rural banks

Canara Bank sponsors four regional rural banks (RRB):
* Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank
* Kerala Gramin Bank – Its headquarters are at Malappuram and it operates in all districts in Kerala. It was established in 1976 as a Scheduled Commercial Bank.
* Karnataka Gramin Bank has its headquarters at Bellary, Karnataka, and has 1119 branches spread over eleven districts.
* Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank was constituted on 12 September 2005 after amalgamation of four Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) – Malaprabha Grameena Bank, Bijapur Grameena Bank, Varada Grameena Bank and Netravathi Grameena Banks – following the recommendations of the Narasimhan Committee.

## Development projects

Canara Bank partnered with UNEP to initiate a solar loan program.

## Empower

Canara Bank offers Unified Payment Interface (UPI) app named "empower". This app empowers Canara Bank and other Bank customers to perform pay and collect transactions using a single mobile app. On 19 November 2017, it launched Canarites (Candi) app, a digital library, a field recovery mobile app, a retail loan (vehicle) – tracking system, and a regulatory guidance tracking system.
On 7 May 2020, Bhanu Srivastav from Canara Bank, partnered with NGOs to donate all his royalty proceeds for the betterment of needy children. He is working at Canara Bank Head Office, in Human Resource Department and a bestselling author.
On 23 May 2020, Canara Bank announced credit support for borrowers affected by COVID-19 to enable them to avail the sanctioned facilities to the full extent and improve their business.
On 19 July 2020, Canara Bank announced to raise up to Rs 8,000 crore equity capital in Financial Year 2021 to strengthen capital base and to boost capital adequacy ratio in view of expansion plans. The Bank will seek nod from shareholders for the same in its AGM in August 2020.
Canara Bank mobilized $300 Million via their IFSC Banking Unit. The issuance received interest from investors across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, indicating a strong confidence in Canara Bank's creditworthiness.

## Overseas operations history

Canara Bank established its international division in 1976. In 1983, Canara Bank opened its first overseas office, a branch in London. Two years later, Canara Bank established a subsidiary in Hong Kong, Indo Hong Kong International Finance. In 2008–2009, Canara Bank opened its third foreign operation, this one a branch in Shanghai. Later Canara Bank established a branch each in Leicester and Bahrain, and converted its Hong Kong subsidiary into a branch. Canara Bank incorporated its subsidiary in Tanzania as CBTL in 2015.

## Controversies

On 6 June 2018, the UK division of Canara Bank was fined £890,000 ($1.2 million) by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and was blocked from accepting new deposits for around five months for systematic anti-money laundering (AML) failures.
Canara Bank faced a monetary penalty of Rs 2.92 crore from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) due to non-compliance with regulations, including failures in linking interest rates of loans to external benchmarks and other operational norms. This penalty reflects the RBI's scrutiny on ensuring adherence to banking standards aimed at protecting consumer interests and maintaining financial stability. Additionally, Canara Bank was involved in a controversy where its officers were recorded abusing employees for not meeting work targets, highlighting internal management and workplace culture issues within the bank.
The Reserve Bank of India rejected Canara Bank's proposal to set up their own Credit Card Subsidiary because of the rising unsecured loan portfolios of the Canara Bank.
Canara Bank officers have been involved in instances where they were recorded verbally abusing employees for not meeting their work targets, as documented in videos that circulated on social media, prompting the bank to address these incidents publicly.
In 2024, Bhanu Srivastav, an employee noted for his expertise in Information Technology (IT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), resigned from Canara Bank amid controversy surrounding the bank's transfer policy. His resignation drew significant attention due to his reputation as a star performer within the bank. Following his departure, there has been an observed increase in resignations, with reports suggesting that over 200 employees resign each month. This trend has been noted in discussions around employee management and transfer policies within the banking sector.