Seylan Bank appoints two new directors

Seylan Bank PLC announced the appointment of Krishan Thilakaratne and Ravi Abeysuriya to its director board with effect from October 1 and October 17 respectively.

Abeysuriya was appointed as an Independent Director while Thilakaratne will play his role as a Non-Executive Non-Independent Director.

Ravi Abeysuriya is the Group Director of Candor Group, owned by National Industries Group (NIG), one of the largest listed companies (Assets over USD 4.7 bn) in Kuwait. Formerly, he was the Head of Strategic Business Development at Hayleys Group, Managing Director of Amba Research Lanka and Managing Director of Fitch Ratings Lanka.

Ravi was responsible for private equity investments for a 200 million Dollar PE Fund. Previously he was responsible for establishing Candor Group of Companies, Amba Research, a pioneer global investment research outsourcing company and the first credit rating agency in Sri Lanka as CEO/MD.

Prior to that, Ravi was the Head of Corporate Finance at JP Morgan, where he handled international equity placements and restructuring of companies.

He has held senior roles in private equity investment, consulting for the World Bank and the Government of Sri Lanka. Ravi is a Fellow Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, and a Chartered Financial Analyst, USA and has an MBA from Monash University, Australia.

Krishan Thilakaratne is the Director/CEO of Commercial Leasing and Finance PLC and is a member of the senior management team of LOLC PLC.

Thilakaratne serves on the Boards of Prasac Micro Finance Cambodia and Commercial Insurance Brokers (Pvt) Ltd. He also serves as a Director of the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) and is the Chairman of the Finance Houses Association of Sri Lanka, the apex body for Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) in Sri Lanka.

Prior to being appointed as the Non-executive Director of Seylan Bank, Thilakaratne functioned as the Alternate Director to I C Nanayakkara until his resignation on August 31, 2018. Thilakaratne holds an Associate Membership of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (AIB) and has also followed a Strategic Leadership Training Programme in Micro Finance at the Harvard Business School, USA. He counts over 25 years of experience in management, credit, channel management, marketing, factoring, portfolio management and Islamic finance.