Aruni quits as HNB Chairperson, Nihal Jayawardene PC succeeds

Aruni Goonetileke

Nihal Jayawardene PC

Professional banker, Aruni Goonetileke last week resigned as the Chairperson and from the Board of Hatton National Bank PLC with Nihal Jayawardene PC appointed as the successor. 

The resignation by Goonetileke was sudden, having assumed the Chairperson post only in September 2021 and joining the HNB Board in April same year. The resignation was announced and accepted at a special HNB Board meeting on Friday. 

HNB announced that Jayawardene, who joined the Board in 2021 was appointed as the new Chairman. 

Jayawardene PC, joined the Bar in 1983 and is well known for a career experience as an officer of the Attorney General’s Department of over 20 years, senior lecturer of Sri Lanka Law College and legal consultant and board member in numerous institutions.  Jayawardene also played a leading role in the process of drafting the Colombo Port City Economic Commissions Act. Presently involved in drafting Electricity Sector Reform Laws.

He is presently the Chairman of Company Law Advisory Commission and a Member of the Board of Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka, a member of Board of Governors in Asian Institute of Business and Science (AIBS) and the in-house Counsel of Capital City Law. He is also a member of the Intellectual Property Law Advisory Commission.

Jayawardena has served as the founder Chairman of Lanka Sathosa, Director of Hotel Developers Lanka from 2004 to 2015, Director of Milco from 2005 -2008 and he also served as a Director of People’s Leasing and Finance PLC.

Goonetileke›s career in banking included Head of Corporate Banking at People’s Bank and Head of Credit for Commercial Banking, at Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore. She has also held the positions of Head of Credit for SME at Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore, Chief Risk Officer, Standard Chartered Bank, Sri Lanka and Global Audit roles in wholesale and retail banking at Standard Chartered Bank.

She has a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, USA and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo. 

She currently holds the positions of Non-Executive/Independent Director of Tea Small Holder Factories PLC, Softlogic Finance PLC and Eswaran Brothers Exports.