Board has started succession planning for top position: YES Bank MD

Mumbai: Following Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp’s (SMBC) investment in YES Bank last September, the local bank’s board has initiated the succession planning process for the top position in the bank and is expected to take a decision this quarter, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Prashant Kumar said during the bank’s Q3 FY earnings call on Saturday.

“There is a succession planning process that our board does on a process basis. The process is ongoing,” Kumar said, adding that it was difficult to estimate how long it would take for the regulator to approve the plan.

SMBC acquired 24.2% stake in Yes Bank in September 2025 in two transactions. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday allowed SMBC to operate a wholly owned arm in India, four months after the Japanese financial services giant acquired the stake. SMBC currently operates in branch mode in India from its offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru.

The RBI had approved Kumar’s reappointment as head of the bank in October 2025 and extended his tenure by six months to April 5, 2026, as the central bank reviewed succession planning at the bank under the agreement with SMBC. Kumar, who has been at the helm of YES Bank since March 2020 when it was rebuilt, started in October 2022 and lasted three years.

Following the entry of new investors, YES Bank is in the process of formulating its five-year strategy and the process should be completed in the next quarter, Kumar said.

YES Bank 3rd quarter results

YES Bank on Saturday reported a 55.4% year-on-year increase in its annual net profit. ₹951.62 crore for the 3rd quarter of FY26. Bank’s profit in the same quarter last year ₹612.27 crore.

Operating profit came ₹1,234 crore, up 14.3% year-on-year.
NII (net interest income) for 3QFY26 was: ₹2,466 crore, up 10.9% year-on-year and 7.2% quarter-on-quarter.
NIM (net interest margin) increased by 20 basis points year-on-year and 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 2.6%, compared to 2.4% year-on-year and 2.5% quarter-on-quarter.
“NIM for 3QFY26 was up 2.6%, up 20 basis points year-on-year and 10 basis points quarter-on-quarter, as reduction in deposit balances made in lieu of PSL shortfalls and deposit rate cuts/repricing impact more than offset the asset repricing impact,” the bank said.
The bank’s CASA ratio stood at 34% in Q3FY26 compared to 33.1% in Q2FY25 and 33.7% in Q2FY26.
While the gross NPA rate decreased by 10 basis points on an annual basis to 1.5%, the net NPA rate remained stable at 0.3% on a quarterly basis, decreasing by 20 basis points on an annual basis.
YES Bank’s advances increased by 5.2% YoY and 2.9% QoQ ₹2,57,451 crore in 3QFY26. Deposits increased by 5.5% on an annual basis but decreased by 1.3% on a quarterly basis. ₹2,92,524 crore.

Focus areas

Meanwhile, the bank’s focus is on structural tightening of the legacy rural infrastructure development fund (RIDF) portfolio, increasing the granularity and profitability of deposits, cost optimization by increasing productivity, and improving overall asset quality.

The bank’s 8% annual loan growth continued to lag behind system loan growth, which Kumar attributed to its strategy of targeting profitable loan growth. He said he was confident that the bank would grow its loan book by around 3 percent sequentially.

“We would give loans around an average annual growth of 8 percent. If you target only profitable loan growth, then I think 8 percent is a figure that will make us happy, compared to the sector loan growth of around 12-13 percent,” he said.

Growth here is largely coming from wholesale, particularly the commercial banking segment. Kumar said that the demand for working capital loans is higher and added that the demand for term loans is also strong.