Nihal Welikala returns to NDB to take up Board seat

National Development Bank Plc has announced the appointment of veteran banker Nihal Welikala as an Independent Non Executive Director to its Board. 

At present, Nihal is an adviser to the Minister of Public Enterprise Development Eran Wickramaratne on the subject of state owned banks. Nihal was also announced as the new Chairman of AMW Capital Leasing Ltd., owned by Alfutaim Group of Dubai. 

He also serves on the Boards of two companies within the Bartleet Group –Bartleet and Company and BartleetTranscapital Ltd. He is also an independent consultant in the financial and investment sectors including assignments for foreign investors and multilateral agencies. Nihal worked for the NDB Group from January 1999 to March 2008 including nearly seven years as CEO during a period of structural and strategic change. He subsequently worked for the Group as Senior Advisor to the CEO and was a Board Director from January to March 2010. Prior to that he worked at Citibank in Colombo from 1981 to 1999 including 11 years as CEO where he was the first Sri Lanka to hold this post. Post qualification as a chartered accountants in the UK, Nihal worked at Ernst & Young for seven years in its London office in the audit and tax departments. Nihal holds a Bachelor of Laws of the University of Sri Lanka and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England Wales and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. With the latest appointment, NDB Board of Directors comprises of AnandaAthukorala (Chairman), Ashok Pathirage (Deputy Chairman), R. Theagarajah (outgoing Director/CEO), T.L.F. Jayasekara, K. Fernando, D.S.P. Wikramanayake, I. Sugathadasa, A. Harasagama, D. Phillips and K. Ratnayake.