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“The Board of Directors wishes to thank Anil Amarasuriya for his immense contribution towards the success of Union Bank. We now look forward to welcoming Indrajit Wickramasinghe and assure our stakeholders of a smooth transition to a new phase in Union Bank’s journey,” UBC Chairman Alex Lovell said.
The selection of Wickramasinghe, who is Chief Operating Officer at NDB and a top professional, comes hot on the heels of UBC entering into the mega deal with US-based TPG Capital for $ 119 million equity investment to take up an over 70% stake. The Extraordinary General Meeting to get shareholder approval for it will be held on 17 September.
Wickramasinghe has over 25 years of management experience, having worked in both the financial and consumer sectors in both local and multinational companies. Having joined NDB over 14 years ago, he has served as the Vice President covering functions such as Marketing, Human Resources and Head of Retail Banking, a position which he held for over seven years.
Since June 2010 Wickramasinghe has been the Chief Operating Officer of NDB, responsible for all the business areas including commercial banking, project finance, SME banking and retail banking.
Wickramasinghe was a Non-Executive Director of Eagle Insurance/Aviva NDB Insurance, a Non-Executive Director of NDB Capital Holdings PLC, NDB Securities Ltd. and Development Holdings Ltd. and is a Director of the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka.
He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. He is a member of the Association of Professional Bankers. He has been through extensive Executive Education programs at INSEAD (France), the Said Business School, University of Oxford (UK) and the National University of Singapore.
Separately, UBC announced that following an illustrious career that spans over three decades, veteran Banker Anil Amarasuriya retires from 15 November 2014 and will relinquish his services as Director/CEO of Union Bank of Colombo PLC subsequent to concluding his contract, adding that his immense contribution to the development of the financial services industry remains invaluable.
Amarasuriya joined Sampath Bank in 1989 as AGM Internal Audit and rose to the position of Managing Director and under his stewardship built a top run entity. Highlighting the evident changes during his leadership Sampath Bank’s pre-tax profit increased from Rs. 342 million in year 1999 to Rs. 2.6 billion in 2008, deposits from Rs. 19.9 billion to Rs. 106.9 billion and advances from Rs. 18.9 billion to Rs. 87.3 billion. The branch network increased from 38 to 113.
One of the significant achievements was his strong recommendation for the bank to invest in a 30% stake in former Vanik Bangladesh, later renaming as LankaBangla Finance Ltd., resulting a highly-profitable venture listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.
During his tenure, Sampath Bank was selected among the best managed 300 small companies of the world by the Prestigious Magazine Forbes Global. With the intervention of Central Bank, in 2009 he took over the challenge of resurrecting and restructuring Union Bank with Sampath Bank, acquiring 24% equity of Union Bank. His efforts have borne fruit and today Union Bank is a viable and strong entity that has emerged as one of Sri Lanka’s fastest growing banks.
He served as Director in the subsidiaries of Sampath Bank PLC, namely, S C Securities Ltd., Sampath Surakum Ltd., Sampath Leasing & Factoring Ltd., Sampath Trade Services (HK) Ltd., Sampath IT Solutions Ltd. and Associate company LankaBangla Finance Ltd.
As Director/ Consultant of Union Bank in 2009 and subsequent appointment in 2010 to Director/ CEO, Union Bank under his purview and stewardship has established a strong position in the sector. He introduced far-reaching changes, policies and procedures which streamlined the bank’s operations.
The bank attracted some of top local and foreign investors and is backed by a team of strong shareholders. He has been instrumental in bringing new customers and supported to build entrepreneurs into big corporate names.
In 2011, Union Bank’s initial public offering created a milestone in Sri Lanka with an astounding over subscription of 417 times in the public category. Prudent diversification interests saw greater expansion for Union Bank with the strategic acquisitions of National Asset Management Ltd. and UB Finance Company Ltd.
The bank’s branch network grew from a mere 14 branches in 2008 to 62 branches by August 2014. The bank has been synonymous for its many IT innovations that have been leveraged to improve service quality.
In 2012 he was instrumental in getting the bank to move to a new Head Office building, followed by the implementation of a state-of-the-art core banking system and a risk system resulting in highlighted process improvements. $ 119 m investment in 2014 from TPG, a leading global private investment, has resulted in Union Bank further strengthening its position as a key player in the financial services sector.
Amarasuriya’s unstinted support to the industry also resulted him being appointed as Chairman of the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association and Financial Ombudsman Sri Lanka (G’tee) Ltd. He is a Member of the Sri Lanka Accounting & Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, the Financial Sector Cluster and the Governing Council of the National Institute of Business Management. He is also Director, Lanka Clear Ltd. and Chairman of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd.
He has been awarded the CIMA Janashakthi Pinnacle Gold Award for the Business Leader of the Year in the Large Organisation category.
Amarasuriya is the Recipient of the Indira Global Super Achievers Award 2007 awarded by the Indira Group of Institute, Pune, India. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Sri Lanka, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK and the Society of Chartered Management Accountants Sri Lanka. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.
