INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Yes Bank Ltd said it was on track to find a new chief executive officer within the central bank's February 1 deadline, but the lender's
shares fell sharply as the market was expecting some clarity at its board meeting on Thursday.The bank now plans to submit the final
recommendation for the CEO post to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after the next board meeting on January 9, the fifth largest
private-sector lender by assets said in a statement.Yes Bank shares, which rose as much as 3.5 per cent earlier in the session, reversed
course to close 6.4 per cent lower."People were expecting an MD CEO appointment from this meeting, but that has been deferred to the
January 9 meeting, so that is a major disappointment," said Asutosh Mishra, head of research of institutional equity at Ashika Stock Broking
Ltd.The RBI in October refused - for a second time - to give incumbent CEO Rana Kapoor an extension to his term, prompting a flurry of
departures from the bank's board
The bank has also seen its stock nearly halving in value since the RBI first cut short Kapoor's term in September."Markets were at least
expecting the bank to give a list of suggested names to the RBI but that has not materialised, so this is disappointing," Mishra added.The
bank said it had finalised its recommendation for the role of a non-executive part-time chairman, which has been vacant since Ashok Chawla
resigned in November, and that it would "promptly" seek approval from the RBI.
