YES BANK and Northern Arc Capital have entered into a strategic partnership to expand digital lending, co-lending and debt capital markets activities, with the alliance facilitated by Japanese financial group Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
The partnership, led by YES BANK MD & CEO Vinay M Tonse and Northern Arc Capital MD & CEO Ashish Mehrotra, will combine YES BANK’s banking liquidity and lending capabilities with Northern Arc’s network of non-bank financial institutions and technology infrastructure.
Access to Northern Arc’s Originator Network
As part of the partnership, YES BANK will gain access to Northern Arc’s network of 368 Originator Partners, comprising NBFCs, microfinance institutions and emerging fintech companies.
The network is expected to provide YES BANK with additional origination channels for micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) and granular credit, including lending opportunities across underserved segments.
The arrangement allows the bank to leverage an existing distribution network rather than building a comparable sourcing infrastructure independently.
Technology-Led Co-Lending Infrastructure
The partnership will also use Northern Arc’s digital lending and risk infrastructure to support the co-lending process.
Northern Arc’s nPOS platform is designed to facilitate straight-through processing for co-lending transactions, while NIMBUS supports loan-pool monitoring. Its NuScore platform provides data-driven underwriting capabilities.
The technology infrastructure is intended to support loan origination, underwriting and portfolio monitoring while enabling YES BANK to deploy credit through partner institutions.
SMBC’s Role in the Partnership
SMBC facilitated the alliance between YES BANK and Northern Arc Capital.
SMBC is a strategic shareholder in YES BANK and has also invested in Northern Arc, providing a common institutional connection between the two financial services companies.
The partnership brings together the banking capabilities of YES BANK with Northern Arc’s lending, distribution and technology infrastructure across India’s non-bank financial ecosystem.
Expansion Into Wealth and Alternative Investments
The partnership also extends into wealth management and alternative investment products.
Northern Arc Investment Managers (NAIM) will work with YES BANK to distribute Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) and Portfolio Management Services (PMS) to the bank’s affluent customer base.
Separately, Northern Arc’s digital bond investment platform Altifi will be integrated into YES BANK’s wealth ecosystem, providing customers access to investment opportunities through the platform.
Focus on Digital Credit Distribution
The collaboration comes as banks and non-bank financial institutions increasingly use technology-enabled origination and distribution models to expand access to credit.
For YES BANK, the partnership provides access to Northern Arc’s established originator network and digital infrastructure. For Northern Arc, the arrangement creates an additional banking channel for its lending and capital-market ecosystem.
The two companies will focus on expanding their collaboration across digital lending, co-lending, debt capital markets and wealth management, bringing together banking capital, non-bank distribution and technology-led underwriting capabilities.
