History Pre-World War II. In 1937, Thiru.M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar established the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) to encourage overseas banking and foreign exchange operations. IOB started up simultaneously at three branches, one each in Karaikudi, Madras, and Rangoon ().It quickly opened a branch in Penang, Kuala Lumpur (1937 or 1938), and another in Singapore (1937 or 1941).