YES Bank shares: 2 reasons why this stock is in focus today

YES Bank shares are in focus on Wednesday after the private lender said it has received approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the proposed amendments to the Articles of the bank in connection with nomination of two nominee directors by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and one nominee director by SBI, on the board of directors of the bank, upon completion of the ongoing transactions contemplated under the SPA and other relevant agreements. 

SMBC’s has plans to own up to 24.99 per cent in the private lender via a secondary market stake purchases. This includes a 13.19 per cent stake from State Bank of India and an additional 6.81 per cent from seven other existing shareholders of Yes Bank --- Federal Bank, HDFC Bank, Bandhan Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank.

YES Bank said the consummation of the transactions contemplated under the SPA and other relevant agreements is subject to customary conditions precedent as mentioned in the agreements on May 9. The approval required from the RBI for the amendment to the Articles of the bank has been received, it said today.

This comes on a day when the Japanese bank was looking to sell up to 3.28 crore shares or up to 1.65 per cent stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank at an offer price of Rs 1,880 apiece, as per the term sheet seen by Business Today. This was at 4.1 per cent discount to NSE's previous session's closing price of Rs 1,960.40. At this price, the block deal values at Rs 6,166.40 crore or $700 million.

Economic Times recently reported that SMBC is likely to invest Rs 16,000 crore ($1.83 billion) in the Indian private lender through a combination of equity and debt.

Amid recent optimism, YES Bank shares are up 8.42 per cent in the past one month and 23 per cent in the past six months. 

This is even as analysts noted that YES Bank’s retail portfolio continued to exhibit stress, with slippage ratio of 2.5 per cent in Q1FY26. The management highlighted that the unsecured portfolio is showing some signs of
improvement.
Earlier, on the retail side, the bank put efforts to increase the share of higher-yielding assets; however, the results have not yet materialised. Some high-yielding corporate loans were retired, offsetting these gains. 

The bank is working on improving the share of higher RoA–accretive assets, Emkay Global noted recently. 

"The peak impact of the rate cuts on loan yields is expected in Q2 (September), with some moderation by Q3 (December) and recovery by Q4 (March), aided by repricing of corporate deposits, CRR benefits, and lower RIDF balance. The bank has reduced RIDF share from 11 per cent in FY24 to 8 per cent of loans in June 2025 and expects to bring it down to 5 per cent by FY27, thereby supporting margins," it said.