Mumbai: The State Bank of India will sport a new logo and signage from Saturday, April 1, following the merger of its subsidiaries with the parent bank.

There have been minor changes in the design and colour of SBI’s new look. The iconic keyhole logo will be set against the background of inky blue. The background to the SBI signboard has been changed from white to “inky blue” while the SBI logo or the monogram as they call it is a few shades lighter than the existing blue. On the design, “SBI” legend will be seen in white colour and will be written in a new font called Effra. The designing and rebranding has been done by Mumbai-based company called Design Stack.

The move is part of the bank's larger goal to project a unified image, which will see all the five associate banks speaking the same language. SBI has hired two agencies RK Swamy BBDO and DDB Mudra to help with the campaigns. SBI will also launch ad campaigns on television and print. The SBI logo symbolises its role of a custodian that will keep customers’ money safe.

SBI’s merger with its associate banks will transform it into a banking behemoth making it to the top 50 banks in the world with its balance sheet increasing to Rs 42 lakh crore, over 277,000 employees, 24,000 branches and 500 million customers.

The last time such a rebranding exercise was undertaken was in 1971, after the government nationalised banks under former Prime Minister's Indira Gandhi regime. SBI's Managing Director Dinesh Kumar Khara in charge of associates, said, "We want to give a fresh look to SBI and from April 1, the rebranding will begin and the SBI boards will be put up on all branches of associate banks."

The entire merger transition is likely to be completed in three months. It may be recalled that in February the government gave its final nod to merge five SBI associates - State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP), State Bank of Travancore (SBT) and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) - with itself. As per the Reserve Bank of India, all branches of the associate banks will function as branches of SBI from April 1, 2017.