Standard Chartered strengthens wholesale banking

Standard Chartered Bank Sri Lanka announced yesterday the appointments of Colin Pawley and Dharshan Jayaratne to the Management Committee. They will be co-heads for the wholesale banking business.

Colin has been appointed as Head of Origination and Client Coverage (OCC), and Dharshan as Head of Global Markets (GM). They will be based in Colombo reporting functionally to Nirukt Sapru, Head, OCC Growth Markets SEA & South Asia, Harinder Singh, Head Global Markets South Asia respectively and locally to Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar, CEO Sri Lanka.

The two senior appointments further strengthen Standard Chartered’s wholesale banking business agenda and team for Sri Lanka.

Colin joined Standard Chartered Bank, London in 1981 and held various positions across the bank. He was previously the Head of the Multinational Corporation (MNC) business in China. Colin grew this relatively underdeveloped business to be the Group’s largest. With his strong commercial banking skills, deep client and broad product knowledge, Colin will support the business strategy and add value to the business in Sri Lanka.

Speaking on his new appointment Colin said: “I am delighted to be in Sri Lanka, which is a beautiful island and be able to contribute to the business at Standard Chartered Bank. I hope that during my tenure I will be able to strengthen the business, which has been in Sri Lanka for over 150 years. I am proud to be a part of its legacy.”

Dharshan, with over 18 years of banking experience in Sri Lanka, joined Standard Chartered in September 2004, having previously worked at ABN AMRO Bank N.V and Citibank N. A. Colombo.

With his extensive experience in the global markets business, Dharshan was a key figure in shaping Standard Chartered’s global markets business within wholesale banking in Sri Lanka.  Commenting on his appointment, Dharshan stated that he looked forward to taking Sri Lanka to new heights in the Standard Chartered global network.

“I have worked with the global markets team here in Colombo for over eight years now, and given the skills and the dynamism of my team, I am confident that we will reach unparalleled levels of excellence in our performance.”

Dharshan is a past pupil of Royal College, Colombo and holds a MBA from the University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Commenting on the appointments, Standard Chartered Sri Lanka CEO Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar said: “We are delighted to have Colin and Dharshan on the Management Committee co-heading our wholesale banking. Both of them are experienced bankers and will undoubtedly take the business to the next level.”

Further, Colin and Dharshan will also serve on the Sustainability Leadership Team (SLT), championing the sustainability agenda for Sri Lanka and contributing to its various functions; ‘Seeing is Believing,’ ‘Living with HIV’ and projects relating to the bank’s sponsorship of the Liverpool Football Club.