The much-awaited news for Yes Bank customers has finally been confirmed by the lender. Yes Bank will resume all its banking services for customers from March 18, 6:00 PM, the troubled lender said in a tweet on Monday. The troubled lender was placed under a moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 5, limiting withdrawals from customers to Rs 50,000 till April 3. “We will resume full banking services from Wednesday, March 18, 2020, 18:00 hrs. Visit any of our 1,132 branches from Mar 19, 2020, post commencement of banking hrs to experience our suite of services. You will also be able to access all our digital services & platforms,” the bank said.
The announcement is in line with the Yes Bank Reconstruction Scheme 2020, approved by the Union Cabinet on Friday. The notification said that the moratorium that was placed on the bank will be lifted in three working days since the commencement of the scheme. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, too, had said that the moratorium will be lifted in three-working days after the notification is issued. The Yes Bank Reconstruction Scheme will also see a new board take over from Prashant Kumar who was appointed the Yes Bank administrator by the RBI, in a bid to save the cash-strapped lender.
In a plan to bail-out Yes Bank, India’s largest public-sector bank, State Bank of India will invest Rs 6,250 crore picking-up 650 crore shares or 49 per cent stake in the reconstructed bank. HDFC and ICICI Bank will both invest Rs 1,000 crore picking up equity in excess of 5 per cent. Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank, Bandhan Bank and IDFC Bank, too will invest in Yes Bank.
The trouble brewing at Yes Bank became clearer on Saturday night when the lender posted its delayed third-quarter results for this fiscal, posting a record Rs 18,500 crore loss. Yes Bank lost more than Rs 40,000 crore worth deposits since the end of September 2019. The Bank had Rs 40,709 worth bad loans on its books as on December 31.