Veteran banker Nihal Fonseka reappointed to Monetary Board

The Parliamentary Council decided to concur with the recommendation to reappoint Nihal Fonseka as a member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Parliamentary Council chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Thursday.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda and Opposition member Kabir Hashim were also present at the meeting.

Fonseka previously served in the Monetary Board between July 2016 and 31 May 2020.

Fonseka obtained his BSc Degree from the University of Ceylon, Colombo and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, UK and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, UK. He was a Director and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee of John Keells Holdings PLC, President of the Sri Lanka National Council of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments and a Member of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission.

A banker by profession, Fonseka has held several key positions in the local and international banking sectors. He was the Chief Executive Officer of the DFCC Bank for over 13 years and prior to that was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Sri Lanka for 10 years. 

He has also served as the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and Pacific, Manila and also as a director of Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, and DFCC Vardhana Bank PLC. 

Fonseka was a member of the 2009 Presidential Commission on Taxation and until recently was a Member of the National Procurement Commission established under the Constitution. Fonseka has authored many articles and made many presentations at seminars and conferences locally and internationally.