Top financial professional Naresh appointed to BOC Board

Top financial professional Naresh Abeysekera has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director to the Board of Bank of Ceylon with effect from 4 May by Finance, Economic, Stabilisation and National Policies Minister.

Abeysekera is an entrepreneur and CEO of SECQUORO, specialising transaction advisory, debt and private equity structuring and funding with a strong presence in the GCC, Europe and Asia together with driving business and digital transformation and advisory services across multiple sectors.

He was a Global Chief Financial Officer for market services and technology of the London Stock Exchange Group, a $ 60 billion market capitalised FTSE 100 listed Entity overlooking operations in 40 markets across four continents and a member of its global leadership team.

In his twenties he was one of the youngest CFO’s of a $ 100 million+ entity and was instrumental in the transformation and listing of one of South Asia’s largest manufacturing companies recognised by Forbes among the “200 Best in Asia”.

Abeyesekera played a key role in leading the development of the “Best Annual Report in South Asia” judged by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) and has also managed ERP implementations that won regional accolades. 

He was also awarded the Industry Leadership Award by SLASSCOM, the IT/BPO Industry Chamber for his contribution to the IT Industry of Sri Lanka.

Abeyesekera co-founded the Institute of Internal Auditors Chapter to strengthen the risk and governance knowledge framework in the country and has been trained in international taxation and international tax strategy in ISDB Malaysia. He has also been trained in lean thinking and practices in the Toyota Corporation in Japan.

In February 2020, he was appointed as a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) and chaired the SEC-CSE (Colombo Stock Exchange) joint Committee on Digitalisation of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Capital Market during COVID when the market could not operate.

In 3-4 months the entire capital market was digitally transformed with electronic account openings and eKYC with Automated Identity Verification for the first time in Sri Lanka setting a regional benchmark. He was instrumental in conceptualising the CSE Mobile App with a mobile 1st Quadruple play digital strategy that led to over 200% growth in the investor base and driving the fastest growing mobile app in the country with over 200,000 active users in a short 12-18 months. The mobile app won the highest national ICT award “e-Swabhimani” by the Information, Communication and Technology Agency of Sri Lanka.

Abeyesekera is a fellow Chartered Accountant, Chartered Management Accountant (UK), Chartered Global Management Accountant (UK) and holds a MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management.

With the latest appointment the Board of Directors of Bank of Ceylon comprises Ronald C. Perera (Chairman), R.M.P. Rathnayake, G.A. Chandrasiri, Prof. Kithsiri M. Liyanage and N. Abeysekera.