K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust Awards 2013 to be held next month

The K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust (KSMT) and the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka (APB) will hold its 11th annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Oration and Awards ceremony on Wednesday, 6 March 2013 in commemoration of the late K. Sivagananathan’s contribution to the banking sector.

An innovative banker in Sri Lanka, he contributed his most to uplift, upgrade and grow to unprecedented heights through many new innovations in Sri Lanka’s premier State bank, the Bank of Ceylon, and made tireless contributions to improve the standard of education in banking and finance in Sri Lanka to international standards together with the APB and IBSL.

Dr. Saman Kelegama, the Executive Director of Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, will deliver the memorial oration. This annual event will be attended by the elite of banking and financial institutions, professionals, bankers and the other invitees.

The commemoration ceremony will be addressed by several speakers including the Guest of Honour, Deshamanya A.S. Jayawardena, the former Governor Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the current Chairman of Bartleet TransCapital and Trustee of KSMT, the Chief Guest, Dr. Saman Kelegama, the Executive Director of Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, Nathan Sivagananathan, the Chairman of KSMT and CEO of MAS Intimates – MAS Design and the President and Secretary of APB.

This year, almost 40 students who have obtained the highest marks in all three languages in the Diploma in Banking and Finance examination in March and September 2012 conducted by the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL), will be awarded cash prizes and certificates.

The K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust (KSMT) is a non-profit organisation mainly dedicated to providing assistance to financially disadvantaged students pursuing higher studies in the field of banking and finance as well as encouraging students who excel in IBSL examinations to achieve a higher standard to be in par with the developed countries, which was one of late K. Sivagananathan’s wishes.

The KSMT has distributed over 550 cash prizes and certificates since 2002 to students who excelled in the banking exams conducted by the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and has sponsored needy students to do the entire banking examination and also sponsored a gold medal to be awarded at the convocation of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.  

This year, a large number of highest achievers in the DBF examination hail from Kadugannawa, Gampola, Neboda, Battiacaloa, Vavuniya, Jaffna, Ambalangoda, Trincomalee, Wewagama, Nelundeniya, Marawila, Kopay, Valachchenai etc.  

Late K. Sivagananathan broke ground to open the IBSL examinations, not only to bankers but also to public, which has shown benefits to the banking community with recent results of non-bankers excelling in the examinations. The late K. Sivagananathan’s involvement with the IBSL contributed to its association with the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB) London, to raise the professional standards of bankers in Sri Lanka which will no doubt contribute in a big way for Bankers to run their banks and branches to keep up with globalisation of the financial sector.

The KSMT has not only provided financial assistance for education in banking and finance but it has also supported other charity projects such as the distribution of books to schools in the Nawalapitiya area as well as providing supplies to the Hindu College in Ratmalana and the Missionaries of Charity, Moratuwa (an orphanage run by the Mother Theresa Sisters’ Home).  

It also provided relief and assistance to those affected by the tsunami and reconstructed a school destroyed by the tsunami in the eastern province. Six schools in the southern and eastern provinces were provided with the necessary infrastructure and equipment for their laboratories as well as libraries and sports gear.

In June 2007, a pre-school was constructed in Bakmitiyawa in the Ampara district and its students were provided with books, sport items and uniforms. In 2009, it supported the IDP camp in Vavuniya and Abhinavarama Maha Viharaya, Kataragama for the construction of the Avukana Buddha statue. A donation was made to the Nutritional Fund of Bowalawatte Sithumina Vidyalaya, Kandy.

The K. Sivaganananathan Memorial Trust was formed on 7 August 2002 to fulfil one of the last wishes of the late Sivagananathan which was to assist needy students pursuing careers in the field of banking and finance.

Sivagananathan rose from the ranks to the level of senior Deputy General Manager of Bank of Ceylon by sheer determination, dedication, perseverance and hard work. He became a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers (London) in 1961. In a letter found after his death, he had made a request to form a trust to grant assistance to educate needy students in banking /finance. After his retirement from the Bank of Ceylon, he served as CEO at Janashakthi Insurance Company and thereafter, as a Consultant to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, up to the time of his untimely death.

The Board of Trustees of the K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust consists of eminent bankers, educationists, top mercantile executives and businessmen. The Trustees include Deshamanya A.S. Jayawardena, former Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, former Secretary to the Ministry of Finance and present Chairman of Bartleet TransCapital; Dr. N.E.H. Sanderatne, Visiting Senior Fellow, University of Peradeniya; D.M. Gunasekera, General Manager of Bank of Ceylon; Rohini L. Nanayakkara, Former General Manager of Bank of Ceylon and present Chairperson of the LOLC Group; S.H.A.M Abeyratne, former Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and present Director General of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka; Pius Joseph, Managing Director of Joseph & Company; Dr. Arul Sivagananathan, Managing Director of Hayleys Business Solutions International, and Nathan Sivagananathan, CEO – MAS Intimates – MAS Design and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of KSMT.

The Trust also launched a website – www.kstrust.lk. The website contains articles on banking and links to various sites for students to learn the latest trends in the banking world. All these will help the students excel in their studies and raise the professional standard of bankers in par with international standards.

The Trustees have ambitious plans in the future to promote banking studies by way of conducting classes, seminars, workshops, revision classes especially in outstations and facilitating distant learning to those in rural areas, issuing books, journals, scholarships, etc. Special emphasis will be laid on students to have access to latest development taking place in the advanced countries. Last year, the Trust also organised an awards ceremony in the north for students who couldn’t attend the function in Colombo.