Moratorium on Yes Bank credit negative: Moody's

The Reserve Bank on India's moratorium and withdrawal cap on Yes Bank is credit negative, and the lack of coordinated action action highlights continued uncertainty around bank resolutions, Moody's Investors Service said on Friday.

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The central bank on Thursday imposed a moratorium on the capital-starved Yes Bank, capping withdrawals at Rs 50,000 per account and superseded the board of the private sector lender with immediate effect.

“RBI's moratorium on Yes Bank is credit negative as it affects timely repayment of bank depositors and creditors,” Moody's Investors Service Vice President – Senior Credit Officer, Financial Institutions, Alka Anbarasu said.

Yes Bank will not be able to grant or renew any loan or advance, make any investment, incur any liability or agree to disburse any payment.

For the next month, Yes Bank will be led by the RBI-appointed administrator Prashant Kumar, an ex-chief financial officer of State Bank of India (SBI).

Moody's said it expects Indian authorities will take steps to prevent the weakness in the bank's viability from significantly impacting its depositors and senior creditors.

“The lack of a coordinated and timely action highlights continued uncertainty around bank resolutions in India,” Anbarasu added.

The board of SBI on Thursday gave an "in-principle" approval to invest in the capital-starved Yes Bank, which has been struggling to execute a capital raising plan for the last six months.

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Its core equity tier-I ratio had slipped to 8.7 per cent as of September.

The bank had also delayed its December quarter results.

The last lender to be placed under a similar action was PMC Bank in September last year. While the withdrawal limits have been increased over time to Rs 1 lakh now, many PMC Bank depositors are still in the lurch.

Yes Bank has been grappling with mounting bad loans.