People’s Leasing & Finance appoints Sujeewa Rajapakse to chair its new Board of Directors

February, 20, 2020

People's Leasing & Finance PLC has announced the appointment of Sujeewa Rajapakse, Sudarshan Ahangama, Clive Fonseka, Chanura Wijetillake, and Asoka Bandara to its board with effect from 19th February 2020 and Coralie Pietersz, who will join the board with effect from 1 March 2020.

Respectively, Sujeewa Rajapakse will serve in the capacity of Non-Executive Non Independent Chairman while Sudarshan Ahangama, Clive Fonseka, Chanura Wijetillake, Asoka Bandara and Coralie Pietersz will serve in the capacity of Non- Executive Non-Independent Directors.

The said appointments have been approved by the Director of the Department of Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, by his letter dated 19th February 2020.

Sujeewa Rajapakse is a Managing Partner of BDO Partners which is the local representative of BDO - the fifth largest accounting network in the world. During his professional career that spanned nearly four decades, he held the honorary positions of President, Vice President and Council Member (elect) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL), Former Chairman of Auditing Standards Committee of ICASL, President of Practicing Accountants Forum of Sri Lanka, Treasurer of Sri Lanka Cricket, Treasurer for Cricket World Cup 2011, Board Member and Technical Advisor to South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), Technical Advisor to Confederation of Asia Pacific Accountants (CAPA). He has also served in the directorates of National Development Bank PLC, NDB Capital Ltd — Bangladesh and The Finance Company PLC. At present, he serves as the Chairman of People's Bank, an Independent Non-Executive Director of Haycarb PLC, Dipped Product PLC, Hayleys Agriculture Holdings Ltd, Uni Dil Packaging Ltd., Uni Dil Packaging and Solutions Ltd. and as the Deputy Chairman of Softlogic Life Insurance PLC. Rajapakse is a Council member of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. His expertise includes all accounting and auditing standards and practices, government regulations related to financial disciplines and ethics, human resource management and overall management practices and principles in both private and public sectors.

Sudarshan Ahangama is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and served on the board of MAS Holdings as its Group Finance Director for the past 15 years. He had responsibilities for the finance function in 17 countries across multiple regions. He has extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions, cross border transactions, venture capital investments and organizational restructuring work which he handled in addition to his core role in finance for the Group. Prior to that he was with the John Keells Group for a period of 14 years. He served as Managing Director of John Keells Stock Brokers and was a member of several of the financial services boards of the John Keells Group. He was also responsible for setting up the software out-sourcing and activities at John Keells.

Clive Fonseka is a fellow of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Postgraduate Institute of Management of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He was appointed as the President of the Association of Primary Dealers in July 2018 and acts in this position at present. He is a member of National Payment Council and Financial System Stability Consultative Committees of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Furthermore he has acted as a Chief Examiner for Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka's IABF/DABF Examinations. He joined People's Bank in 2002, prior to which he served at American Express Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. He has been a member of People's Bank's senior corporate management team from November 2011.

Chanura Wijetillake, has over 35 years experience in the Banking Sector, out of which a total of 14 years in the Senior Management & the Corporate Management at the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, covering the areas of Lending , Compliance & Branch Administration. He has been instrumental in implementing a Risk-based Compliance Frame Work and Risk based Compliance Audit System at the Bank. He has also successfully developed & executed strategies to maximize the sales & profit growth in 02 large Regions of the Bank for over 5 years. He has been a member of the Bank's Internal Resource faculty for its training programmes conducted for Branch Managers & the Credit Officers on Lending. Wijetillake is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Bankers — Sri Lanka & also an Associate Member of the International Professional Managers Association (UK). He has represented the bank & participated in several Training Programs in Singapore, Bangladesh, China & Germany during his long career at the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC. He has also functioned as the Assistant General Manager - Compliance at Softlogic Finance PLC for a while after his retirement from Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC.

Asoka Bandara has over 30 years of expertise in demand generation function and business development in MNC's and leading local corporates. He has been a MANCOM member of Nestle Lanka PLC and Group Managing Director of Delmege Forsyth Group of companies and currently operates management consultancy services for leading local conglomerates. His core competencies include building of branded businesses and development of commercial teams. As a Trainer, he specializes on developing team leadership and personality development and imparts his knowledge via MBA teaching on topics i.e. leadership, strategic management and advanced marketing and sales management. He also acts as a key negotiator by leveraging his issue management skills for leading Industry bodies vs key stakeholders.

C. Pietersz is an associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. She holds a B.Sc (Honours) degree in Physics from the University of Sussex and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Coralie Pietersz is the Finance Director of Finlays Colombo Limited, Hapugastenne Plantations PLC and Udapussellawa Plantations PLC. She serves as an Independent Director on the Board of Seylan Bank PLC and Bogala Graphite Lanka PLC. She is a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka.

People's Leasing & Finance PLC is a subsidiary of People's Bank and is a limited liability company listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The Group consists of five subsidiaries, namely; People's Leasing Fleet Management Limited, People's Leasing Property Development Limited, People's Leasing Havelock Properties Limited, People's Microfinance Limited, and People's Insurance Limited. Having secured market leadership in the leasing industry just six years into operations, the group has been successful in retaining this coveted title for more than ten years. In November 2012, the company received the licence from the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to conduct finance business under the Finance Business Act No.42 of 2011 and we now rank as the largest non-banking financial institution in Sri Lanka (in terms of the asset base).Over the past decades, PLC has become the pioneer in providing value added financial services to Sri Lankans.

 

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