Challenge of disruptive change – together towards tomorrow

The 31st Anniversary Convention of the Association of Professional Bankers – Sri Lanka was held at the Grand Ballroom, Hilton Colombo on 8 and 9 October with the participation of senior bankers from all the banks in the country. Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy graced the inauguration ceremony on 8 October as the Chief Guest. The keynote address was delivered by the Guest of Honour World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough. 

Speaking at the occasion Dr. Coomaraswamy elaborated on the sweeping industry changes that will occur with the implementation of the new Banking Act in 2021. The President of the Association C. Amarasinghe presented the Governor with the first copy of the Convention Volume consisting of well-researched articles compiled by 18 academics and industry professionals in their fields of expertise.  

The second day of the convention was devoted to the technical sessions to explore the convention theme further. Accordingly, technical presentations on ‘Balancing the Super Powers, Indian Ocean Geo politics and Sri Lanka’ by Admiral (Prof.) Jayanath Colombage, Director – Pathfinder Foundation; ‘Balancing the Global Economy’ by Dr. Nishan de Mel-Executive Director, Head of Research – Verité Research; ‘Regulatory Changes’ by A.A.M. Thassim, Director Bank Supervision, Central Bank of Sri Lanka; ‘Impact of Anti Money Laundering Legislation’ by Steven Beck, Head of Trade and Supply Chain Finance, Asian Development Bank; ‘Digital Disruptions; What, Why & How’ by Channa de Silva, General Manager/Chief Executive Officer of Lanka Clear; ‘Digital Empowerment’ by Viraj Mudalige – Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Epic Lanka Ltd. were held in the morning along with three panel discussions with the participation of above speakers and moderated by Dilshan Rodrigo, Chief Operating Officer, Hatton National Bank PLC, Dimantha Seneviratne, Director/Group Chief Executive Officer, National Development Bank PLC and Thimal Perera, Executive Director/Deputy Chief Executive Officer of DFCC Bank PLC.

Two more technical presentations on ‘Selling banking to a Disruptive Society’ by Tilan Wijeyesekera, Deputy General Manager – Retail Banking, Seylan Bank PLC and ‘Forging Ahead of Competition: Facing New Age Rivalry’ by Hasrath Munasinghe, Deputy General Manager – Marketing, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC were held in the afternoon. The Convention successfully concluded with a Q & A session on ‘Financial Crimes/Legislations and Customer – Banker Dispute Resolution’ moderated by Thejaka Perera, Vice President – Litigation and Legal Recoveries, DFCC Bank PLC with the participation of Ravi Widyalankara, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (Retired), Shaheeda Barrie – Senior State Counsel, Attorney General’s Department and. Ananda Kumaradasa – Financial Ombudsman.