YES Bank Appoints Two SMBC Nominees to Board; SBI Nominee Steps Down

YES Bank Ltd. on Thursday said its board has approved the appointment of Shinichiro Nishino and Rajeev Veeravalli Kannan, nominees of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), as additional directors in the category of non-executive and non-independent directors. Their appointment is subject to shareholders’ approval, the bank said in an exchange filing.

The move comes a day after State Bank of India sold a 13.19% stake in YES Bank to SMBC for ₹88.9 billion, cutting its holding to 10.8%. SBI completed the transfer of 4.13 billion shares, while other sellers transferred 2.14 billion shares to the Japanese lender.

In a separate release, YES Bank said SMBC has completed the acquisition of a 20% stake, making it the largest shareholder, while SBI remains a major shareholder with over 10%.

SBI nominee director Sandeep Tewari resigned from the board with effect from Wednesday, the filing said.

Nishino is executive officer and head of global credit in SMBC’s risk management unit, based in Tokyo. Kannan is managing executive officer and head of the India division at SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group.