Bloodbath in Yes Bank on host of resignations, shares down 6%; Rentala Chandrashekhar exits now

After being best performer in previous trading sessions, the share price of Yes Bank did not shy away from once again being the worst performer on exchanges. The share price of Yes Bank has tumbled by over 6% on Sensex, after when the news broke of Independent Director Rentala Chandrashekhar has resigned from the bank. Yes Bank has already witnessed many resignations from top management, even as it is busy in searching for a new chief. Yes Bank has a little over two months, to find a new CEO & MD, as RBI has firmly directed to end their founder and current leader Rana Kapoor’s tenure by end of January 2019. One more resignation makes it difficult for bank to concentrate in appointing a new CEO.

At around 1306 hours, the share price of Yes Bank has plunged by Rs 11.95 or 5.83% on Sensex, trading at Rs 193.10 per piece. However, the bank has touched a new intraday low of Rs 191.75 per piece which makes an overall drop of 6.48% so far in today’s trading session.

In a notification to stock exchanges, Yes Bank stated that,  Rentala Chandrashekhar, Independent Director has tendered his resignation from the Bank's Board, with immediate effect, due to personal reasons.  

While an Economic Times report highlighted that, Chandrashekhar replied via WhatsApp message the reason for resigning. It is being known that, Chandrashekhar resigned, because he was not happy with the developments taking place in the recent past and the way it was handled.

Now this comment just raises questions after questions, because Yes Bank has been promising its investors and customers that a new CEO will be appointed well within the RBI deadline. However, now the bank is also in need for another Independent Director as well.

Yes Bank in the notification mentions that, 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.

Not just a new CEO and Independent Director is what Yes Bank needs to search, in fact the bank is also short of a non-executive chairman.

Last week, non-executive chairman Ashok Chawla resigned on November 14, which followed by another exit from O.P. Bhatt the next day itself. Bhatt was among the external members of Yes Bank’s search committee which was setup to search a suitable candidate for a new CEO & MD.

One might think to hold onto Yes Bank till the RBI deadline nears, however, with back-to-back resignations, it makes it a very pressure-filled moment for the bank as well as the investors.