YES Bank sees several exits from board ahead of annual general meeting

Two high-level board members on two consecutive days resigned from private lender YES Bank’s board, citing personal reasons.

 
The bank on Tuesday informed the stock exchanges Mukesh Sabharwal, non-executive independent director, resigned.
 
The bank had proposed his name for re-appointment as independent director until April next year.
 
However, irrespective of the outcome of the annual general meeting, where the proposal would have been voted on, Sabharwal will cease to be on the board. He had been with the bank since April 2012.

The shareholders’ meeting is scheduled for Wednesday.
 
Ajai Kumar, who was non-executive director, resigned on June 10. He was officiating as chief executive officer (CEO) in February after Rana Kapoor had left and before Ravneet Gill had taken charge.
 

Pralay Mondal, who was senior group president and head, retail and business banking, resigned in January this year.
 
There were many exits from the board in the second half of last year, with R Chandrasekhar and Ashok Chawla, both former Union secretaries, resigning.
 
Chandrashekhar resigned because of dissatisfaction over the bank’s internal processes, contradicting the bank’s statement that he left for “personal reasons”.
 
Former State Bank of India chairman O P Bhatt resigned from the bank’s search committee, citing “conflict of interest”. Independent director Vasant Gujarathi too stepped down.
 
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May this year appointed former RBI deputy governor R Gandhi to the board of the bank as additional director for two years. It was widely speculated that the RBI’s move was primarily because the regulator had apprehensions about the functioning of the bank.
 
Uttam Prakash Agarwal, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and T S Vijayan, former Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai) chairman, were also appointed to the board.
 
Agarwal was appointed in November and Vijayan in the next month last year.
 
The RBI refused an extension to Rana Kapoor, who was managing director also, in November last year because the central bank was not satisfied with the corporate governance practices and under reporting of bad loans by the bank.
 
YES Bank has been under the regulator’s scanner for these reasons.