Upul appointed Deputy MD at Aviva NDB Insurance

AVIVA NDB Insurance has appointed its former Director - Life Distribution Upul Wijesinghe as the Deputy Managing Director of the company with effect from April 2012.

Upul’s career at AVIVA NDB spans over 20 years, holding leadership positions in both life and general insurance.    

“The selection of Upul as my deputy in a non-board position is a choice that the Board of Directors and I fully endorse,” said AVIVA NDB Managing Director Shah Rouf.

“He is a natural and respected leader with a very high acceptance within our business and the wider industry. He has an innate knowledge of the market, the industry and the company and knows how best to turn dynamics to the advantage of the company.  His interesting combination of ‘mathematician turned sales leader’ amply demonstrates his ability to turn his multiple knowledge and skills to where it matters,” Rouf added.

“His support to me in turning around the Life Distribution Division (Direct Sales) to the success it has achieved today and his previous achievements in the general insurance division, proved his leadership mantle. I am personally proud of this selection and have every confidence in Upul’s ability to deliver expectations.”

Wijesinghe holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Honours from the University of Colombo and is an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute, UK.  He holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Actuarial Science.  He represents Aviva Asia as a Director in the Board of NDB Aviva Wealth Management Limited and is the Specified Officer for Life Insurance of AVIVA NDB.

AVIVA NDB enriches its succession planning through a talent identification and development process embedded within the Aviva Group called ‘Talking Talent.’  This process helps identify tomorrow’s leaders within the Aviva Group and enables them to be groomed for future leadership responsibilities.  

Both the Managing Director Shah Rouf and the Deputy Managing Director Upul Wijesinghe are ‘built-in’ talent, products of Aviva’s talent management process, nurtured to take up leadership responsibilities within Aviva.  

Aviva is the world’s sixth largest insurance group, serving over 44.5 million customers across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. Aviva’s main business activities are long-term savings, fund management and general insurance, with worldwide total sales of £47.1 billion and funds under management of £402 billion at 31 December 2010. Aviva is the largest insurance services provider in the UK and one of the leading providers of life and pensions products in Europe.

The NDB Group is one of the largest financial conglomerates in Sri Lanka, operating regionally in Maldives and Bangladesh. The Group offers project finance, corporate banking, SME lending, retail banking, investment banking, stock broking, wealth management and insurance solutions under one roof.

NDB Bank has an AA (lka) rating by Fitch Ratings Lanka and is amongst the best in the industry, reflecting the bank’s strong financial profile in terms of its capital base, profitability and asset quality. NDB Bank is one of the highest capitalised private sector commercial banks in Sri Lanka.