APB confers honorary life membership to eminent bankers

The Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka, at a recently concluded well attended function of banking professionals, conferred honorary life membership on two eminent bankers, who were also past Presidents of the Association.  

Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka (APB Sri Lanka) President W.A. Nalani conferred the honorary life membership on Rajendra Theagarajah and Lakshman Silva in recognition of their outstanding services to the Banking Industry in general and to the Association, after the citations were read out by Buwanekabahu Perera and Parama Dharmawardena for Theagarajah and Silva respectively.

Rajendra Theagarajah is the present Managing Director / CEO of Hatton National Bank plc is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants UK, Hon. Fellow of Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, MBA -Cranfield Business School, UK. He is also the incumbent Chairman of the Asian Bankers Association and the first ever South Asian to hold this prestigious position. Further ABA will be hosting the Annual ABA symposium in Sri Lanka in Oct 2011, the first ever of its kind in South Asia in ABA’s 27 year history.

He has presented numerous technical papers chaired sessions organized by ICASL, CIMA, SLID, ABA, APB, SEC, Institute of Internal Auditors in Colombo, Mumbai, Manila, Taipei, Hong Kong, Ho chi Min City, Kula Lumpur, Bangkok etc.

He also presented technical papers on convergence of International Accounting Standards in Banks at annual private –public dialogue between ABA / Pacific Economic Cooperation Council & South East Asian Bank Regulators.

He is a recipient of Qatar Financial Services Leadership in Banking Award for Sri Lanka in 2010 and was also recognized and featured as one of Asia’s 25 Banking CEOs by UK based Wileys publication.

Theagarajah has held and presently holds many responsible positions in the Financial Sector and also in other prestigious Professional Associations.

Lakshman Silva is the Director/ Chief Executive Officer of DFCC Vardhana Bank. Whilst in the university  he became a Licentiate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and in 1983 he obtained his Bachelor of Commerce (Special) Degree with a Second Class Upper Division from the University of Kelaniya.

He is an Associate in Development Bank Management, of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific and a holder of a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenapura.

His contributions to the banking industry has been noteworthy.  He assisted his bank to embark on a very aggressive expansion programme and as at date the DFCC Vardhana Bank is equipped with a wide network of branches and extension offices.

He was instrumental in training and educating fellow bankers and young entrants to the banking industry via the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and public training programs in various fields of banking.

He initiated the publication of the booklet ‘Customary Banking Practices on Customer Account Operations Based on Selected Case Law’ authored by Dr. Wickrema Weerasooriya in fulfillment of one of APB’s objectives to organize and promote research in the field of banking.

In recognition of his outstanding performance, the Professional Association of Postgraduate Institute of Management honoured him with the Young Achievers Award in 2005.

His contribution to his bank was also rewarded when he received the General Manager’s Award for the Best Employee of the Year in 2007.