Yes Bank has announced significant changes to its fee structure, affecting both merchant and salary accounts, with different implementation dates.

Merchant Accounts

Effective October 1, YES Bank is introducing new fee structures for Merchant Easy and Merchant Prime current accounts:

Cash Deposit Limits

• Merchant Easy: Up to 12 times Average Monthly Balance (AMB) (capped at ₹1.50 crore)
• Merchant Prime: Up to 15 times AMB (capped at ₹5.00 crore)
• Excess deposits will incur a charge of ₹4.00 per ₹1,000

Minimum Balance Requirements

• Merchant Easy: ₹25,000
• Merchant Prime: ₹50,000
• Non-maintenance charges range from ₹250 to ₹500

Other Features

• Monthly throughput from POS, QR, or Soundbox devices can substitute AMB requirements
• Both account types will receive Element Business Debit Cards with a ₹349 annual fee
• Various transaction fees apply, including ₹750 for cheque returns due to insufficient funds and ₹100 for printed statements

Salary and Defence-Related Accounts

YES Bank plans to revise charges for these accounts from October 2025:

Debit Cards

• Smart Salary Advantage accounts: RuPay debit cards with a ₹199 joining fee
• Higher-tier variants: Engage or Explore cards with conditional fee waivers

Fee Waivers

Applicable with either:

• Minimum monthly salary credit of ₹10,000, or
• Average monthly balance of ₹10,000

ATM Transactions

• Free transactions at other banks:
  • Metro areas: Up to three per month
  • Non-metro areas: Up to five per month
• Charges for exceeding free limits:
  • Financial transactions: ₹23 per transaction
  • Non-financial transactions: ₹10 per transaction
• International cash withdrawals: ₹150 per transaction

Cheque Return Charges

• First instance: ₹500
• Subsequent instances: ₹750

Account Reclassification

Accounts without salary credits for three consecutive months may be reclassified as regular savings accounts, subject to non-maintenance charges up to ₹750.

Special Account Benefits

Yes Vijay Accounts

• Free Element and Engage debit cards
• Free cash transactions up to ₹1,00,000 or two transactions monthly
• Unlimited free transactions at YES Bank ATMs
• Free NEFT/RTGS services

Defence and Pension Accounts

• Unlimited free transactions at YES Bank ATMs
• Free NEFT/RTGS services

Customers are advised to review these changes to ensure they meet the criteria for fee waivers and optimize their banking experience with YES Bank.

Japanese banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) is set to make a substantial investment in Yes Bank , signaling a major boost for the Indian private sector lender. The planned infusion of Rs 16,000 crore, through a combination of equity and debt, aims to strengthen Yes Bank's balance sheet and improve its financial position.

Investment Structure

The Rs 16,000 crore investment from SMBC will be structured as follows:

This strategic move is separate from SMBC's earlier commitment to pay Rs 13,500 crore to existing shareholders for acquiring a 20% stake in Yes Bank.

Regulatory Approval and Future Plans

SMBC has received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to acquire up to a 24.99% stake in Yes Bank. The Japanese bank is working on establishing a wholly owned subsidiary to potentially acquire a majority stake in the future.

Additional Considerations

• SMBC is seeking promoter status in Yes Bank
• The company is exploring options to increase its stake by an additional 4.99%
• Negotiations with private equity investors Advent and Carlyle are underway

Potential Impact

The low-cost funding from SMBC is expected to have a positive impact on Yes Bank's financial metrics. Notably, it could help improve the bank's net interest margin, which stood at 2.5% as of the most recent reporting period.

This significant investment by SMBC underscores the growing interest of international financial institutions in India's banking sector and could potentially reshape Yes Bank's future trajectory in the competitive Indian banking landscape.