AbstractWe give an algebraic criterion for the existence of projectively Hermitian–Yang–Mills metrics on a holomorphic vector bundle E over some complete non-compact Kähler manifolds $$(X,\omega )$$ ( X , ω ) , where X is the complement of a divisor in a compact Kähler manifold and we impose some conditions on the cohomology class and the asymptotic behaviour of the Kähler form $$\omega $$ ω . We introduce the notion of stability with respect to a pair of (1, 1)-classes which generalizes the standard slope stability. We prove that this new stability condition is both sufficient and necessary for the existence of projectively Hermitian–Yang–Mills metrics in our setting.