The three Presidency Banks, as these were then known, were amalgamated in January 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which acquired the three-fold role: of a commercial bank, of a banker’s bank and of a banker to the government.
It is interesting to note here that merger of banks and consolidation in the banking system in India, is not as recent a phenomenon as is often thought to be, and dates back to at least 1843 – and the process, of course, still continues.