Yes Bank Q4 profit up 19% to Rs 430 cr on non-interest income

Yes Bank today posted an 18.8 per cent increase in March quarter profit to Rs 430.2 crore, helped by a healthy increase in non-interest income.
The city-based private bank, embroiled in a legal battle over a board position for the co-promoter's family, had reported a profit of Rs 362.2 crore a year earlier.
The core net interest income grew 12.8 per cent to Rs 719.6 crore on a 15.4 per cent jump in customer assets, while the net interest margin remained flat at 3 per cent.
Driven by transactional revenue and retail banking, non-interest income grew 17.4 per cent to Rs 445.5 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, Yes Bank Chief Financial Officer Rajat Monga said.

Other components of fee income such as financial markets and financial advisory were tepid during the quarter, he said.
For the full financial year, net profit grew 24.4 per cent to Rs 1,617.78 crore from Rs 1,300.7 crore a year ago.

The board approved a proposal to raise funds by issuing equity up to USD 500 million in one or more tranches by way of QIP or other international offering, including global depository receipts/ADRs.
Total income rose to Rs 3,013.57 crore in the January-March period as compared to Rs 2,667.03 crore in the same period of the previous financial year, Yes Bank said in a statement.

The bank is targeting net interest margin of 3.15 per cent in FY15 and growth of 20 per cent each in advances and deposits, Monga said.
The share of low-cost current and saving accounts (CASA) deposits stood at 22 per cent in Q4. Monga said the target of raising it up to 30 per cent by end of FY15 is difficult but attainable.
The ratio of gross non-performing assets climbed to 0.31 per cent of gross advances from 0.20 per cent in the year-ago period. Monga said the worst is behind the bank as the situation has peaked.
Provisions for bad assets decreased to Rs 72.29 crore from Rs 97.53 crore in the year-ago period and Monga attributed this to the smaller pipeline of bad assets.

Yes Bank shares gained 1.67 per cent to close at Rs 441.55 on the BSE. The 30-share benchmark Sensex climbed 0.52 per cent.
Monga parried a question on media reports that the board is to consider an out-of-court settlement with Madhu Kapur, the widow of bank co-promoter Ashok Kapur, on the nomination of directors.