Yes Bank chisels retail strategy

Mumbai, March 13: Yes Bank expects its balance sheet size to grow over three-fold by 2020, helped by a strong retail franchise and a bigger number of clients from the small and medium sector.

The country's fifth-largest private lender started operations in 2004.

At present, the bank's balance sheet size stands at over Rs 1.50 lakh crore. This is expected to increase to around Rs 5 lakh crore in the next four years.

"By 2010, we were the largest small bank. Subsequently, we became the largest medium-sector bank. We now expect to be one of the largest large-sector banks by 2020, during which our market share will more than double to 2.5 per cent. We have been able to build a very good franchise and capital will also not be a problem in the future. With wholesale, retail and business banking performing well, we will continue to see a robust growth even on a larger base,'' Pralay Mondal, senior group president (retail and business banking) of Yes Bank, told The Telegraph.

He said the bank would have 2,500 branches by 2020 from around 800 now. Also, the ratio of low-cost current and savings account (CASA) deposit is expected to rise to 45 per cent from 27 per cent.

The bank's focus on garnering retail granular deposits is expected to increase the share of retail deposits and CASA to 75 per cent from 54 per cent of its total deposit book.

The bank, which has so far concentrated on increasing its footprints in the northern and western parts of the country, is now gradually expanding in the south and east as well.

In Calcutta alone, around five branches will be added in the next three to four months. By the end of the next year, another eight branches are expected to open, taking the total tally to 22.

In the Northeast, the bank has 14 branches. The number is expected to double over the coming months.

Mondal said the bank had planned to expand its presence in Bengal (excluding Calcutta) and other geographies such as Odisha, Patna and Raipur. It is estimated that by 2020 about 9 per cent of its branches will be located in the east.

"We now have around 1.8 million customers. We are adding over one lakh CASA customers every quarter. We are very conscious of the quality of franchise that we are building and the focus is to ensure that customers who are being acquired are served well,'' he said.

Yes Bank, which has strengthened its retail leadership team with top hires recently, is set to launch its credit card in the first quarter of the next fiscal, thus completing its suite of retail asset products.

The bank is also seeking to expand its presence in the SME/MSME sector. It plans to add 20 more branches dedicated to this segment to a current number of 30. At present, business banking (SME, MSME) has over 7,000 customers and is expected to grow over four-fold by 2020.