Kotak and Axis Bank Term Merger Speculations as Baseless

New Delhi: The two biggest banks-Kotak Mahindra and Axis Bank-have rejected merger speculations.

Rumours of the two private banks merging were doing the rounds in the past few weeks, says a report in Times of India.

According to report in Moneycontrol, the merger could be worth around 2.5 lakh crore, the biggest after HDFC.

"A merger deal is being explored by the shareholders of the two banks. Merger would unlock huge synergies, as Kotak Bank has a strong corporate banking franchise while Axis is strong on the retail front, the report quoted a fund manager as saying.

"Axis is one of the strongest financial institutions in the country with a large customer franchise and we do not comment on rumours and speculations,” Times of India quotes Axis Bank spokesperson as saying.

“We urge you to exercise extreme caution in dealing with this misinformation," Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson Rohit Rao told the newspaper.