Lord Mayor of the City of London Alan Yarrow visited the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and took part in the Market Opening Ceremony. Furthermore he also held discussions on the investment prospects of the Sri Lankan Capital Market and the potential for the growth of foreign direct investment under the new government.

The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka James Dauris, Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) Nihal Fonseka,the Country Manager for CISI Brian Selvanayagam and a delegation from the UK attended the Market Opening Ceremony.

The Chairman of the CSE Vajira Kulatilaka, CSE Director Anton Godfrey, CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Senior Management represented the CSE at the Market Opening Ceremony.

“Colombo no doubt has a very exciting future ahead of itself. If I look back at what things looked like just a year ago – you would not have imagined the opportunities that have opened up for foreign direct investment to the country and the attitudinal changes taking place because of your new government. Let us get the elections over quickly and move forward more quickly,” Lord Mayor of the City of London Alan Yarrow said.

“I am also pleased to be here as the Chairman of the CISI, it is a very important part of our offering to allow wealth managers to internationalise their qualifications. Professionalisation of the industry is very important because we want to ensure professionals are globally qualified to give investors’ confidence in the advice they receive,” he added.

“The Sri Lanka has had a long standing relationship with Britain in terms of infrastructure, economy and culture. Similarly the Colombo Stock Exchange has continued a relationship with the London Stock Exchange in terms of technology development and investment relations. The UK continues to invest in Sri Lanka through the Capital Market and we hope this relationship continues into the future,” Chairman, Colombo Stock Exchange Vajira Kulatilaka said.

Yarrow took office as the 687th Lord Mayor of the City of London on Friday 7th November 2014. He was born in Malaysia and educated at Harrow before joining Grieveson Grant, stockbrokers in 1972 and being elected a member of the Stock Exchange in 1978. He is currently Chairman of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment and is also a Non-executive Director of Turquoise Global Holdings Limited (subsidiary of the London Stock Exchange) and Fixnetix Limited (low latency data communications). He is also a Trustee of the Police Foundation. He has served as Chairman of the London Investment Banking Association, a member of the Take-over Panel, Vice-Chairman of the Financial Services Authority Practitioner Panel, and Vice President of the British Bankers’ Association.
The occasion also marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) to facilitate educational programmes, between the two organisations.