Shah resigns as MBSL Chief; hails MR for non-interference

Wednesday, 28 January 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Veteran banker, trade unionist and Chairman of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL) M.R. Shah had tendered his resignation on 12 January from his post as Chairman of MBSL, which has been approved by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 26 January. Shah was appointed as the Chairman of MBSL in 2010 following a series of issues at the top level of MBSL under the then Chairman.

Shah, who was attached to Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka with a long tenure of 33 years in various capacities, was also the longstanding Leader of the Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union (CBEU) for over 16 years. Following his retirement from the Commercial Bank of Sri Lanka, he was appointed to MBSL as the Chairman during a rough period at MBSL. As Chairman, Shah was responsible in many developments at MBSL during his period. With a vision of servicing the rural population he started the micro finance operations at MBSL under the name ‘Siyath Saviya’. Also the branch network of MBSL grew from seven to 30 within a very short period with an aggressive expansion of opening 16 branches at a given day in the year 2012. Primarily being a leasing company, MBSL saw a complete revamp under his leadership. Further, MBSL became the first merger under the listed category in line with the Central Bank’s consolidation plan for the financial sector. Shah played a vital role in this and completed the merger of the MBSL Group on 1 January this year. The speciality of the MBSL Merger was that, it was completed without any employee layoffs. Insurance industry sources say that Shah was able to set things right at MBSL Insurance Company, after a series of fraudulent activities in 2012/13. He went to the extreme of resigning from his post as the Chairman of MBSL Insurance Company and fought back to take control of the company from the hands of fraudsters, thereby establishing the code of conduct in that company as well. It is also learnt through an internal memo to the staff of MBSL, Shah while thanking the Staff members, Shareholders and the Board of Directors of both MBSL and Bank of Ceylon for the support given to him, he has very specifically expressed his gratitude to Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for having confidence in him to appoint as the Chairman of MBSL and for the fact that during his tenure as Chairman of MBSL and Director of all its subsidiaries, he was not subjected to any political interference whatsoever by the latter, which he says “strengthened his hands in eliminating corruption and wrongdoers in all entities which has facilitated in the establishment of discipline and good corporate governance”. In his memo he had also extended his special appreciation to the minority shareholders and the Merchant Bank Branch Union of the Ceylon Bank Employees’ Union for their support in his journey to have in place good governance and good performance. Internal sources of MBSL say that the resignation of Shah comes at a critical juncture where the merger has just completed and the company is just seeing light at the end of the tunnel. However, Shah has decided to step down on ethical grounds.