Russell to retire, Rajendra to take over at NDB

Senior banker Russell de Mel will retire as CEO of NDB from August and will be succeeded by Rajendra Theagarajah who moves from HNB following his retirement in June.

NDB said yesterday that de Mel will be retiring on 23 August after an illustrious 33-year service.

It also announced Theagarajah will be appointed as CEO-designate from 1 August and thereafter as CEO and Director with effect from 23 August subject to approval from the Central Bank. Theagarajah counts 28 years of banking experience and is currently serving as the Managing Director/CEO at HNB from where he will be retiring on 30 June. He was appointed Director/General Manager/Chief Executive Officer in December 2004. He was appointed Managing Director in December 2005 and was a member of the Corporate Management of HNB since 1997. He counts over 27 years in banking including overseas assignments.



He was a past Chairman of Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (Guarantee) Ltd. and Financial Ombudsman Sri Lanka (Guarantee) Ltd., Chairman of the Asian Bankers Association. Member of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, Committee member of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Vice Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Governing Board Sri Lanka and Council Member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Directors.

De Mel has been with NDB for over 30 years, largely in the field of corporate banking. Prior to his appointment as CEO he served as Vice-President – Head of the Corporate Banking Group and as Vice-President – Head of Group Risk Management.

During the initial phase of his career at NDB he has held many key positions in the field of Project and Infrastructure Finance. Over the last two decades he has been actively associated with some of the key commercial projects NDB partnered with both local and foreign investors. He also played a leading role in the privatisation of the plantation sector.

As Head of Group Risk Management he was instrumental in realigning the risk management function within the NDB Group. Currently, he sits on several Boards of the NDB Group companies. De Mel is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK.