K.G.D.D. Dheerasinghe, an eminent economist with a distinguished career of over 37 years in the banking sector has been appointed Chairman of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon with effect from tomorrow (29 July 2014).

Meanwhile, M.P. Jayawardena, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and counting nearly 35 years of post qualifying experience both locally and overseas specializing in Finance and Treasury Operations has been appointed Deputy Chairman of the Commercial Bank of Ceylon with effect from tomorrow.

Mr. Dheerasinghe who holds 20,653 voting shares of the Commercial Bank PLC was appointed to its Board on 20 December 2011 and elected Deputy Chairman subsequently.

He was previously a Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and also the Chairman of the Monetary Policy Committee and the Sovereign Ratings Committee and also the Alternate Executive Director for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka at the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Dheerasinghe has published widely in many aspects of economics including debt capital markets and financial globalization and has over 30 referred articles in reputed journals and as book chapters in Sri Lanka and overseas. He has also presented over 50 papers at international seminars. He has been a Visiting Lecturer and Moderator/Examiner in the Universities of Colombo, Kelaniya, Sri Jayewardenepura and Moratuwa and also several professional bodies in Sri Lanka. He has made significant contributions to the development to the government debt securities markets by innovating and structuring key financial instruments and developing its institutional framework.

Mr. Dheerasinghe is a graduate of the University of Colombo where he has obtained B.Com and B.Phil (Econ) with first class honours. He obtained his 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 Honorary ACI Diploma.

M.P. Jayawardena, who takes over as Deputy Chairman of the Commercial Bank with effect from tomorrow was appointed to the Board in December 2011. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka was with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines for 13 years in many senior posts including Head of Treasury, managing an international loan portfolio of over US$ 02 Billion.

He is the current Group Consultant at Chemanex PLC after stepping down as the company’s Managing Director in March 2013.

Mr. Jayawardena 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.

He 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.

Photo Caption: K.G.D.D. Dheerasinghe (left) and M.P. Jayawardena