Yes Bank okays board reconstitution; Prashant Kumar to be new MD & CEO

Kumar is the former CFO and deputy managing director of SBI

Yes-Bank-logo-representational Representational image | Yes Bank

Yes Bank on Monday said it has approved the reconstitution of its board with Prashant Kumar as the new MD & CEO.

Kumar, former chief financial officer and deputy managing director of State Bank of India, is currently overseeing the troubled private sector lender as RBI-appointed administrator.

The other board members will be Sunil Mehta, former non-executive chairman of Punjab National Bank, as the non-executive chairman of Yes Bank, Mahesh Krishnamurthy and Atul Bheda as non-executive directors.

SBI will have the right to nominate two directors on the board of directors of Yes Bank.

"The reconstitution of the board of directors of the Bank as set out, shall take effect immediately after the expiry of seven calendar days from the date of cessation of the moratorium in accordance with paragraph 11 of the Scheme," Yes Bank said in a regulatory filing undersigned by the bank's administrator Kumar.  

The administrator has been appointed by the Reserve Bank of India under Section 36ACA(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 with effect from March 6, 2020.

The affairs, business and property of Yes Bank are currently managed by Kumar.

Yes Bank said it has also amended the memorandum and articles of association of YES Bank Limited to reflect the applicable provisions of the Reconstruction Scheme.

The moratorium on Yes Bank, placing a withdrawal limit of Rs 50,000 on deposits, is to be lifted by 6 PM  on March 18, 2020, which is much before the original date of April 3.

The bank on March 5 was put under moratorium by RBI due to serious financial mismanagement under its former MD & CEO Rana Kapoor, who currently is in the custody of probe agencies, as well as failure to raise enough capital to keep afloat.

The board of the bank was superseded with immediate effect, and other financial activities such as granting new loans, investment, among others, were also curbed.

As per the bank's rescue plan outlined by RBI, SBI will have a stake of 49 per cent in Yes Bank through a capital infusion of Rs 7,250 crore. 

Private lenders ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDFC First Bank, Bandhan Bank, Federal Bank and mortgage lender HDFC Ltd have also infused capital in cash-strapped Yes Bank.

Moody's upgrades Yes Bank's rating to positive from negative

Acting quickly on the fast-evolving capital position under the RBI-mandated restructuring of Yes Bank, rating agency Moody's on Monday upgraded its ratings with a positive outlook.

Earlier in the day, Yes Bank announced that seven banks led by SBI have invested Rs 10,000 crore, boosting its core capital.

Later, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said if need be the central bank would give additional capital support to the crippled lender.

"We today upgraded Yes Bank long-term foreign currency issuer and foreign currency senior unsecured MTN programme ratings to Caa1 from Caa3 and (P)Caa1 from (P)Caa3 respectively," Moody's Investors Service said in a late evening statement.

Accordingly, the credit outlook has also been changed to positive from negative.

'Caa' ratings are below investment grade.

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