Bankers’ CRO Forum elects new Executive Committee

Thursday, 23 July 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Damith Pallewatte

The Association of Banking Sector Risk Professionals, Sri Lanka (known as Bankers’ CRO Forum) was formed in March 2012 to share best practices and strengthen fellowship amongst risk officers in banks. The association also acts as a conduit in discussing industry wide subject related matters with the regulator with a view to implement and localise risk management best practices whilst promoting stringent level of corporate governance standards to support maintaining the financial sector stability.

The association is dedicated to inculcate prudent risk management culture promoting risk management as an enabler to conduct business of banking in a safe and profitable manner. The membership of the association consists of Chief Risk Officers of all commercial and specialised banks in Sri Lanka and their deputies.

The association held its third Annual General Meeting recently and elected its new office bearers. Damith Pallewatte, FRM was elected as the President of the association. Damith is a career banker having almost 20 years of sector experience and currently serving as the CRO of Nations Trust Bank PLC. Damith holds a BSc (Hons.) Degree in Management from the University of London, London School of Economics and has earned a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) from the University of Sri Jayawardanapura. He is an ACI Operations Certificate holder from ACI Financial Markets Association, France. Damith has been admitted to the designation of Financial Risk Manager (FRM) by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) – USA. He is also a resource Personnel for the Centre of Banking Studies (CBSL) – Sri Lanka and Institute of Bankers (IBSL) – Sri Lanka.

Bank Executive Committee (from left): Tyrell Peiris, Kapila Hettihamu, Damith Pallewatte, Nirmala Rayen and Aruna Fernando

Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC Chief Risk Officer Kapila Hettihamu and National Development Bank PLC Group Risk Officer Nirmala Rayen were elected as Vice Presidents whilst Amana Bank Manager Market Risk Management Tyrell Peiris and Seylan Bank Credit Risk Management Aruna Fernando AGM were elected as Secretary and Treasurer respectively. Sampath Bank PLC Group Risk Officer Priam Kasturiratna was elected as the Assistant Secretary whilst ICICI Bank Head of Risk Management Indraka Liyanage was elected as the Assistant Treasurer.