Vajira Kulatilaka awarded as Best Investment Banking CEO 2015

Vajira Kulatilaka has been adjudged the ‘Best Investment Banking CEO Sri Lanka 2015’ by Global Banking and Finance Review in recognition of his contribution to the investment banking arena of Sri Lanka. It is the second time he has been bestowed with this rare honour having won the award in 2014 as well. 

Vajira currently heads the investment banking cluster of the NDB Group and is designated CEO/Director of NDB Capital Holdings PLC (NCAP) overlooking the operations of its subsidiaries NDB Investment Bank Ltd. (NDBIB), NDB Securities Ltd. (NDBS), NDB Wealth Management Ltd. (NWM), NDB Zephyr Partners Ltd. and NDB Capital Ltd., Bangladesh.

On top his role as the Chief Executive of Sri Lanka’s premier investment banking group, Vajira also functions as the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and has provided unwavering leadership to introduce many pioneering initiatives at Sri Lanka’s only stock exchange. In April 2015, he was also unanimously elected as the Chairman of the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE), an organisation with 15 primary members comprising of stock and commodity exchanges from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Bhutan and the UAE. Further to his leading role in the country’s capital market sphere, Vajira is also a Council Member of the University Moratuwa, Sri Lanka’s premier engineering university.

Prior to joining NCAP, Vajira functioned as the CEO of NDBIB from 2001, where he was instrumental in carrying out record-breaking transactions, some of which remain as records on the Colombo Stock Exchange to date. Vajira led NDBIB to its current position as the leading investment bank in the country making milestone contributions including the introduction of the book-building process to the equity market and introducing a new industry benchmark in securitisations – utilised even today, to name a few. 

Vajira played a key role in popularising wealth management in Sri Lanka and with his strategic guidance NWM with Assets Under Management of approximately Rs. 90 billion now stands as Sri Lanka’s largest private sector wealth management company and the country’s largest unit trust manager. Vajira also played a tremendous role in restructuring the group’s stock broking business with has rapidly gained market share over the last few years. His thirst for innovation and capturing new markets saw the NDB Group establishing its footprint in Bangladesh and more recently, venturing into private equity management with the launch of Sri Lanka’s largest country dedicated private equity fund amounting approximately $ 50 million. Vajira hails from a multi-disciplinary academic background, having initially entered the engineering field where he obtained a BSc in Engineering (First Class), from the University of Moratuwa and a MEng in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand. He later ventured into the financial sector, specialising in investment banking and corporate financial management supported by his professional qualifications being a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK (FCMA) and a CFA Charterholder.