The Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has announced the appointment of Messrs Dharma Dheerasinghe and Preethi Jayawardena as Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Bank, effective 29th July 2014.
Dheerasinghe, formerly Deputy Chairman of the Bank, succeeds Dinesh Weerakkody on the latter’s retirement after two and a half years as Chairman.
An eminent Economist with a distinguished career of over 40 years in the banking industry, Dharma Dheerasinghe was appointed to the Board of Commercial Bank on December 20, 2011 and was subsequently elected Deputy Chairman.
He was previously Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and also served as Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee and Sovereign Ratings Committee.
Dheerasinghe has been the Alternate Executive Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Widely published in many aspects of economics including debt capital markets and financial globalisation, he is credited with over 30 referred articles in reputed journals and book chapters in Sri Lanka and overseas. He has presented more than 50 papers at international seminars and been a Visiting Lecturer and Moderator/Examiner for the Universities of Colombo, Kelaniya, Sri Jayawardenapura and Moratuwa and several professional bodies in Sri Lanka.
Dheerasinghe has made a significant contribution to the development of the government debt securities market by innovating and structuring key financial instruments and developing its institutional framework.
A graduate of the University of Colombo where he obtained a B.Com and B.Phil (Econ) with first class honours, he holds an M.A. (Econ) from the University of Leeds, UK and is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and holder of an Honorary ACI Diploma.
Jayawardena was appointed to the Board of Commercial Bank in December 2011. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and has nearly 35 years of post-qualifying experience both locally and overseas specialising in Finance and Treasury Operations. He was with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines for 13 years in many senior positions including Head of Treasury, managing an international loan portfolio of over US$ 2 billion.
He currently serves as the Group Consultant at Chemanex PLC after stepping down as the Company’s Managing Director in March 2013. He is the Chairman of Lanka Rating Agency (Formerly Ram Rating) and Commercial Insurance Brokers (Pvt) Ltd. He is also a Group Director of CIC Holdings PLC and John Keells Foods PLC.
Jayawardena is also a Member of the Monetary Policy Consultative Committee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Deputy Chairman of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors.
The only Sri Lankan Bank to be ranked among the world’s top 1000 Banks for four successive years, Commercial Bank operates a network of 237 computer-linked service points and the country’s single largest ATM network of 597 terminals.
The Bank has been adjudged ‘Best Bank in Sri Lanka’ for 16 consecutive years by ‘Global Finance’ Magazine and has won multiple awards as the country’s best Bank from ‘The Banker’, ‘Finance Asia’, ‘Euromoney’ and ‘Trade Finance’ magazines.
