K. Sivagananathan Memorial Oration and Awards on 10 March

The 18th Annual K. Sivagananathan Memorial Oration and Awards will be held on Tuesday, 10 March.

This Annual Memorial Oration and Awards ceremony is conducted jointly by the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka (APB) and K. Sivagananathan Memorial Trust (KSMT), in commemoration of the late K. Sivagananathan, who was an innovative banker and contributed much to uplift and upgrade Sri Lanka’s banking and financial services industry.

He also worked tirelessly with the APB and IBSL to improve the standard of education in the field of banking and finance in Sri Lanka to be in par with International standards.

This year’s Memorial Oration will be delivered by Deshal De Mel, Independent Director Sampath Bank PLC, Research Director Verité Research, former Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance and former Senior Economist at Hayleys PLC. 

The occasion will be chaired by APB President C. Amarasinghe, Deputy General Manager (Sales and Channel Management) of Bank of Ceylon, who will deliver the welcome speech.

Twenty-six students have obtained the highest marks in the Diploma in Applied Banking & Finance (DABF) in the March and September 2019 examinations conducted by the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (IBSL), who will be awarded cash prizes and certificates at the awards this year. 

The joint event conducted by APB and KSMT for the past 17 years has met the objectives of both institutions. The APB, a premier association serving the banking and financial institutions over the past 30 plus years has achieved many of its objectives year on year. 

The association was formed in 1988 by a group of enthusiastic senior bankers who saw the need to form an association to promote professionalism in the industry, for a forum to meet and discuss topics relating to the banking industry and also to help upcoming bankers to broaden their knowledge and skills. As a result, the Association of Professional Bankers – Sri Lanka (APB) was established in July 1988.  

Late K. Sivagananathan was one of those who was instrumental in making this dream a reality. Many bankers welcomed the formation of the association, fulfilling a long-felt need in the industry. Over the years the APB has made a steady progress and been the most representative organisation of banking professionals in Sri Lanka with a membership of over 1,200. 

The mission of APB is to sustain the highest standards of professionalism and integrity among bankers, and to influence the achievement of the highest ethical standards and governance in the banking industry.

The APB functions as a forum that brings together banking professionals/leading personalities in business administration and local/global banking, and stimulate intellectual discussions in the contemporary banking scenario. In addition, it provides many opportunities for the bankers to network through regular evening presentations, quiz programs, APB’s annual convention, talent shows, members’ get-together, sports events, religious events, etc.  

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

Together both institutes with their common objective to serve the nation and to promote banking studies have successfully achieved their objectives for many years. 

The KSMT has distributed over 1,000 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 less privileged students to do the entire banking examination and also sponsored Gold medals to be awarded at the Convocation of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.

Once again a majority of the highest achievers in DABF examination hail from outstations which is encouraging and both institutes are very proud of their achievements. Late K. Sivagananathan who was keen to open the IBSL examinations not only to bankers but also to the public would be proud to see the excellent results shown by the non-bankers and students from outstation.  

Further information can be viewed at www.kstrust.lk and www.apbsrilanka.org.