Rajendra joins Carson’s Board as Independent Director

Top professional banker and HNB’s CEO Rajendra Theagarajah has been appointed to the Board of Carson Cumberbatch Plc as a Non Executive/Independent Director with effect from Wednesday.

Following the latest appointment, the Board of Directors of Carson’s comprises Tilak De Zoysa (Chairman), H. Selvanathan (Deputy Chairman), Mano Selvanathan, Israel Paulraj, Chaminda Gunawardana, Suresh Shah, Chandana Tissera, Vijaya Malasekera, Mangala Moonesinghe, Faiz Mohideen, and Rajendra Theagarajah.

Theagarajah is an alumnus of ricewaterhouseCoopers Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK.

Having obtained an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management, UK, he joined the Chase Manhattan Bank (now known as JP Morgan Chase) in London and obtained extensive experience in internal control systems, branch operations, global custody and treasury management within the bank’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. 

He returned to Sri Lanka in 1992 and joined the Colombo Branch of Banque Indosuez (now part of the CALYON Group) and served as its Deputy General Manager and continued as a member of fines – corporate management ream after the takeover of Indosuez Colombo by fine in 1997. 

At present he serves as the CEO of Hatton National Bank (since December 2004) and is also on the boards of all its subsidiary companies. 

Theagarajah is a past President of the Association of Professional Bankers in Sri Lanka. past Chairman of the Sri Lanka Banks Association, a Director of the Colombo Stock Exchange, Director of Lanka Clear (Private) Ltd., and Director of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd.

During his tenure as CEO, HNB received the prestigious Bracken award, naming Hatton National Bank as the ‘Bank of the Year 2006 for Sri Lanka,’ ‘Euromoney Bank of the Year’ in 2009 and 2010, and was also recognised by the Asian Banker as the ‘Retail Bank of the Year in Sri Lanka’ 2007-2011 earlier in 2010.

Theagarajah was profiled as one of 25 Rank CEOs in Wiley’s publication ‘Asia’s Banking CEOs – The Future of Finance in Asia’ (a collection of profiles of leaders who have guided some of the most successful banks in the world’s most dynamic region of Asia).

A Member of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board and Council Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors, Theagarajah also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asian Banks Association and as a Member of the Governing Board of the World University Service, Canada and Vice Chairman of the CIMA (UK) Sri Lanka Board.