Yes Bank Says It Will Find Rana Kapoor’s Successor By Jan. 31 

Yes Bank Ltd., which earlier wanted to seek an extension for Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Rana Kapoor till April 30, said the private lender will find his successor by the Jan. 31 deadline given by the Reserve Bank of India.

The board would appoint two external members on its search and selection committee by Oct. 7, the bank said in a statement today. The committee, also comprising three members of the bank’s remuneration and nominations committee, is tasked with finding the next CEO after the RBI cut short Kapoor’s term. The search panel, according to the bank, will look at a pool of internal and external candidates.

The central bank, in a statement issued last month, allowed Kapoor to continue only till Jan. 31 against the board-approved three-year term ending in September 2021. Yes Bank, which Kapoor co-founded, has since lost nearly half its market value as analysts fear that his exit could slow down the bank’s growth.

To be sure, the lender’s board earlier said that it intends to request the RBI to grant Kapoor an extension till April 30 so that he can finalise the results for 2018-19. And, if the RBI permits, the term may be extended till Sept. 30, 2019, so that Kapoor may fulfill responsibilities at the annual general meeting.

The board had also said last month that Rajat Monga and Pralay Mondal, senior group presidents, would be elevated as executive directors as part of a long-term succession plan. The bank said today that the proposal has been submitted for the RBI’s approval.

‘Asset Quality Stable’

Amid speculation about the bank’s asset quality, the lender today released numbers to allay fears. The asset quality remains stable, it said in the statement, reiterating its credit cost guidance at 50-70 basis points for the ongoing financial year compared with 76 basis points in 2017-18.

The numbers for the second quarter are being released before the bank’s official announcement and are subject to approval from the board, its audit committee and the statutory auditors, the statement said.

Key Highlights

• Gross non-performing asset ratio inched up to 1.35 percent as on Sept. 30, according to the statement. The bad loan ratio was at 1.31 percent in June 2018 and 1.28 percent in the quarter before that.
• Deposits rose 41 percent year-on-year to Rs 2.23 lakh crore, while the current account savings account ratio stood at 33.8 percent as on Sept. 30.
• Domestic advances rose to Rs 2.2 lakh crore, while overall advances stood at Rs 2.4 lakh crore as of September-end.
• The bank had a liquidity coverage ratio of 101 percent as on Sept. 30, 11 percentage points in excess of the minimum regulatory requirement of 90 percent.
• The bank’s average daily LCR for July-September was about 100 percent.
• Liquidity position will further benefit from the recent RBI measures announced on Sept. 27 to ease systemic liquidity which will take effect on Oct. 1.