In an internal restructuring bid, the private sector lender, Yes Bank has laid off 500 employees across various verticals, with more layoffs to come in the next few weeks, The Economic Times reported.

The layoffs have taken place from wholesale to retail, with the branch banking segment dealing with the most impact, the report said.

According to the sources cited by The Economic Times, the employees who were axed, have been given three months of pay as severance. 

It is said that the bank’s restructuring exercise is being done at the advice of a multinational consultant, primarily with the aim to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs.

The private sector lender spent Rs. 3,774 crore on its staff at the end of the last financial year, with its operating expenses for the entire year registering a jump of 17 per cent.

The headcount at the end of financial year 2024 was 28,000, out of which 23,000 belonged to the junior management category.

The high operating expenditure impacted the operating profits of the bank, which has SBI as it's biggest shareholder. Yes Bank clocked a growth of 6.4 per cent from ₹3183 crore to ₹3386 crore in FY24, ET report showed. 

The bank is focusing to move from manual to digital banking in its bid to cut down operative costs.

A spokesperson told ET that, “In our endeavour to be an agile, future-ready organisation which is leaner, faster, customer centric, and operationally efficient, we periodically undertake a thorough review of the way we operate and optimise our workforce.”

“We are committed to delivering the best of our banking services to our customers and deliver the full potential of the bank to our stakeholders,” the spokesperson added.

Similar layoffs were seen in Yes Bank in 2020, when managing director Prashant Kumar took over the private lender with the support of the RBI, in the quest to rescue the bank from financial disaster.