Yes Bank raises $500 million in foreign currency loans, deposits

Yes Bank today said it has raised USD 500 million in foreign currency loans and deposits in FY14 due to regulatory relaxations introduced during the fiscal.

The private lender has raised USD 500 million after the Reserve Bank relaxed regulations by raising the borrowings limit from 50 per cent to 100 per cent of Tier I capital and concessional FCNR (B) deposit swap window, it said.

Yes Bank's larger rival and peer in the private sector space, HDFC Bank, had raised USD 3.4 billion via the FCNR (B) deposit route alone during the nearly three months that the window was operational.

The loan facilities will be used to scale up general corporate lending and small and medium enterprise loan portfolios, it said.

Yes Bank said the last of the loan facility, a USD 34 million loan for six years, was raised from German development finance institution DEG recently, helping it reach the USD 500 million mark.