Disclosure On Nil Divergence Was To Comply With SEBI Norms: YES Bank

Private sector lender YES Bank has refused to divulge the “lapses and regulatory breaches” found in the RBI’s Risk Assessment Report and said it made the disclosure on nil divergences for 2017-18 to comply with regulations of market regulator SEBI.

“The bank is also required to comply with the SEBI (Prohibition on Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015 on an ongoing basis. SEBI (PIT) Regulations defines Unpublished Price-Sensitive Information (UPSI). NSE and BSE... have mandated listed companies to disseminate UPSI without any delay and to ensure information symmetry amongst all market participants,” YES Bank said in a clarification to the NSE, stressing that it has not indulged in misrepresentation.

It said that it was of the view that the disclosure on divergences was a part of UPSI and other peer banks have also submitted similar information to stock exchanges along with their quarterly results and much ahead of finalisation of their annual results.

“It is respectfully submitted that the bank has not indulged in any sort of misrepresentation or in providing any misleading information to the stock exchanges and the investors,” YES Bank said on Tuesday.

It also declined to divulge further details of the RBI report on lapses and regulatory breaches citing confidentiality. “It is humbly submitted that RAR has been marked as ‘Confidential’ by the RBI and hence, the bank is not in a position to provide any further details of the same to the stock exchange(s), unless allowed by the RBI,” it said in response to a query by the NSE on Tuesday.

In what was seen as the first of its kind rebuke, the RBI pulled up YES Bank for making the confidential report public and what it considered as “a deliberate attempt to mislead the public”. In a regulatory filing on February 13, YES Bank had cited the report and said the RBI has found nil divergences in its asset classification and provisioning in 2017-18, following which its share price had risen by over 30 per cent on February 14.

On Tuesday, YES Bank shares remained largely stable and closed at ₹212.45 apiece on the BSE, which is 0.33 per cent lower than the previous day’s close. Similarly on the NSE, its scrip ended 0.02 per cent lower at ₹213.5 apiece.