Association of Professional Bankers holds 29th Anniversary Convention

The Association of Professional Bankers – Sri Lanka, held its 29th Anniversary Convention on 21 and 22 November at Cinnamon Grand, Colombo on the theme ‘Changing Dynamics – Bank of the Future’.

The inaugural session was held on the 21st evening. Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Senior Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, who was the Acting Governor at the time of the event, was the Chief Guest and the Keynote was delivered by Jameel Ahamed, Deputy Governor of State Bank of Pakistan. 

The Anniversary Convention Volume which carried 19 articles was introduced by Bhanu Wijayaratne, Chairman, Publications Committee of APB – Sri Lanka and presented to the sponsor Deutsche Bank AG Colombo and Rohan Rodrigo, Chief Country Officer of Deutsche Bank AG, Colombo received same from Senarath Bandara, the President of APB – Sri Lanka.

Technical Session I which was branded ‘Trade Winds Redirected,’ covered the geopolitical and economic landscape impacting Sri Lanka and the region as a whole with China and India emerging as new economic powerhouses, whilst the US, EU, UK and the leading nations are trailing in their economic progress. The presentation was made by Dr. Harinda Vidanage, Director – Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies, which was followed by the Technical Session II, branded ‘Pathfinders to the Fore,’ which discussed in detail how banks should prepare to embrace change and the presentation was made by Ralph Van Doorn, Resident – Senior World Bank Economist. 

Panel Discussion I was held covering the said two inter-related topics moderated by Dilshan Rodrigo, Chief Operating Officer, HNB and the panellists were Anushka Wijesinha, National Programme Director –Trade Competitiveness and Innovation of Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade, Dr. Harinda Vidanage and Ralph Van Doorn. 

Technical Session III was branded ‘Rules of the Game – 3 Distinct areas of Regulation,’ covering BASEL III, IFRS 9 and Compliant Customer and the presentations were made by Aby Eapen, E&Y India, Sujeewa Mudalige, Managing Partner, PWC and A.A.M. Thassim, Director Bank Supervision – CBSL, respectively. 

Panel Discussion II was held which focused on the regulatory areas mentioned above and how banks should prepare themselves for the said challenges. The discussion was moderated by Neomal Gunawardena, Partner, Nithya Partners and the panellists were the said three speakers. 

Technical Session IV was branded ‘Encoded World,’ which covered digitalisation in banking and the presentation was made by Saurabh Tripathi, Senior Partner and Director, BCG. The Technical Session V was delivered by Chandi Dharmaratne, Head of HR, Virtusa which was branded ‘Soldiers of the Brave New World – Super Bankers,’ which discussed how people should be groomed to take up future challenges of banks in a digital environment. 

The last item of the Convention was branded ‘View from the Top,’ which was a CEO Forum, which focused on different aspects discussed during the Keynote speech and the Technical Sessions and addressed the concerns and opportunities in preparing banks for future challenges, whilst reshaping the internal processes and businesses to face the new world. 

This session was moderated by Ranel Wijesinha, Director BOC and SEC, and the panellists were Lakshman Silva, CEO, DFCC Bank, Nanda Fernando, Managing Director, Sampath Bank, Mark Prothero, CEO, HSBC – Colombo, Dumith Fernando, Chairman, Asia Securities and Director SEC, and Dr. Nayana Dehigama, Chairman/MD, Epic.