Syndicate Bank was founded in 1925 in Manipal, Udupi, Madras Presidency, British India.

The bank provided employment opportunities to the educated members of the local community.

Under this scheme, banking agents travel to the doorstep of farmers and shopkeepers at set intervals to collect deposits.

[3] Syndicate Bank used to encourage its employees to work as Pigmy Deposit agents, during their spare time.

The bank leveraged its 1,702 branches and introduced new schemes to mobilise low-cost deposits.

[3] In October 1999, Syndicate Bank held its first initial public offering (IPO).

[8] In February 2000, it was reported that the bank had further reduced its staff strengthen by 2,400 in the preceding two years.

[9] In 2003, Syndicate Bank tied up with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide loans to purchase solar lamps.

[10] In December 2003, Syndicate Bank announced sabbatical leave scheme with partial pay to reduce its employee overhead.

The proposed merger would create the fourth largest public sector bank in the country with assets of ₹15.20 lakh crore (US$180 billion) and 10,324 branches.

[20] On 3 August 2014, the CMD of the bank, Sudhir Kumar Jain, and 11 others were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Jain was accused of taking bribes to extend the credit limits of companies.