The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and University Canada West (UCW) successfully concluded a webinar on the theme ‘How the Financial Market evolved through the pandemic’. The webinar attracted over 60 participants and included insights from Canadian and Sri Lankan experts.

The virtual event is one of the collaborative programs organized by the two organizations that follow a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently for mutual development. The MoU is projected towards recognizing the common interests of the two organizations with a focus on collaborating in executive training opportunities and promoting future cooperation.

Mr. Daniel Bood, Counsellor (Political & Trade) at the High Commission of Canada to Sri Lanka and Maldives, Mr. Brock Dykeman, President and Vice Chancellor of UCW, Mr. Dave Keighron, Head of Innovation/Director of Next Generation Hub at UCW, and Mr. Michele Vincenti, Department Chair – MBA, Leadership & People Management at UCW added insight during the webinar. Representing the CSE, Mr. Niroshan Wijesundere, Head of Marketing at CSE and Mr. Nishantha Hewavithana, Head of Research & Strategy at CSE joined the conversation.

The main discussion areas of the program included How COVID-19 has changed Sri Lanka, the importance of education in virtual needs, Canada’s virtual operational transformations and the overview of CSE Executive Training organized by the two organizations.

Sri Lankan experts joined with a comprehensive overview of the pandemic and its effects on society and the economy, including foreign investor contributions, capital outflows, the depreciation of the local currency, and import restrictions. They highlighted the many opportunities that have been presented despite the challenges, including a digitally enabled capital market, potential to increase market liquidity and fast growing, less correlated market. Canadian experts too shared insights on how the pandemic affected Canadian society & the economy, and their path to recovery.

A key focus of the conversation was education, and the speakers elaborated on the importance of financial literacy and how the field of global education has evolved with digital tools. They discussed the importance of adopting these constantly changing landscapes, technological advancements, and asynchronous learning.

The CSE highlighted how the organization has always considered education and the increase in financial literacy to be of paramount importance. The exchange has, over the years, impacted society at large by conducting educational and awareness programs island wide, bringing together commercial and public sector organizations, business associations, industry trade groups, universities and schools. They discussed different initiatives of the CSE towards digitalization, education and awareness programs, and strategic collaboration with external parties. It was brought to attention that the CSE has taken the initiative to increase financial literacy from the grass root level, not just Colombo centric, but by conducting programs island wide targeting different segments of people from all walks of life. This has resulted in an increase in retail participation in recent periods due to change in perception of investing in the stock market.

Following the same objective, CSE in collaboration with UCW presents an Executive Program, targeted towards those who are currently involved in the financial industry and designed to cover areas such as Investment Analysis and Management, Global Financial Institutions Management and Business Analytics.

More information can be obtained via https://www.ucanwest.ca/cse-ucw-executive-program/ or by calling 011 2356531-529.