YES Bank on Monday said Rentala Chandrashekhar, Independent Director has tendered his resignation from the bank’s board, with immediate effect, due to personal reasons.
“The Nomination & Remuneration Committee (N&RC) of the bank will look for a suitable replacement in the field of Information Technology and Cyber Security in terms of applicable provisions of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, Companies Act, 2013 and Banking Regulation Act, 1949,” it said in a release on Monday evening. YES Bank’s board of directors may see a further revamp with more resignations likely to come in after a review of its top leadership structure.
Sources said the lender’s N&RC had reviewed the performance of board members and has communicated its views on under-performing members to the board in its meeting on November 13.
“It is an opportunity for a clean up. More resignations are likely to come in during this week and next,” said a source familiar with the development, adding that now people acceptable to both promoter groups will be appointed on the board.
“Both promoter groups are in favour of overhauling the YES Bank board to weed out the under-performing members and address past governance issues,” sources said, adding this will be the norm for appointing the new chairman as well after Ashok Chawla’s exit.
Last week, YES Bank non-executive Chairman Ashok Chawla had resigned with immediate affect. Another independent director Vasant Gujarathi too has tendered his resignation.
Over the next few days, former State Bank of India Chairman OP Bhatt, who was an external expert on its search and selection panel, also resigned.
The promoter groups include Rana Kapoor and his sister-in-law and co-promoter, Madhu Kapur.
Short-listing of candidates
Meanwhile, the Search and Selection Committee of YES Bank is understood to have short-listed close to 10 potential candidates who could be appointed as the next Managing Director and CEO of the private sector lender.
Sources close to the development said that these include both internal and external candidates from the banking sector, who have had a long innings in the industry and also experience in wholesale banking.
These candidates are understood to include YES Bank’s own Senior Group Presidents Rajat Monga and Pralay Mondal.
External candidates include the head of a public sector bank and chiefs and top executives of some private sector lenders as well as the head of a foreign bank. One of them is understood to be V Srinivasan, Deputy Managing Director, Axis Bank who is set to resign at the end of December.
Sources said the candidates are likely to be further shortlisted before a list of three to five names is recommended to the Reserve Bank of India.
YES Bank’s MD and CEO Rana Kapoor is set to step down after January 31, 2019, after the RBI cut short his term.
The Search and Selection Committee of YES Bank includes three existing Nomination and Remuneration Committee Board Members led by Brahm Dutt, Mukesh Sabharwal, Subhash Chander Kalia while TS Vijayan, past Chairman of IRDAI and LIC is an external expert. The committee is being advised by global leadership advisory firm Korn Ferry.
The committee is understood to have already held about three rounds of meetings and had on October 26 finalised the potential candidate profile. “Korn Ferry also shared a representative list of candidate pool, based on initial industry mapping,” Yes Bank had said at the time.
On Monday, YES Bank shares gained 7.19 per cent and closed at ₹205.05 apiece on the BSE.