Atarah Capital appoints Janaka Karunaratne to Board

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 06:59 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Janaka Karunaratne

Atarah Capital has announced the appointment of retired Central Bank of Sri Lanka Deputy Governor Janaka Karunaratne to its Board as a Non-Executive Independent Director.

Having served at CBSL for over 34 years, Karunaratne assumes his inaugural appointment in the private sector as a Director of Atarah Capital, a corporate finance advisory firm licensed and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka.

Having retired as Deputy Governor in charge of the Financial System Stability cluster, Karunaratne possesses extensive experience in the supervision and regulation of bank and non-bank financial institutions, currency management, public debt, resolution and enforcement, payments and settlements, and policy review and monitoring.

He held several key leadership positions at CBSL prior to being promoted as Deputy Governor and played a prominent role in strengthening the legal and regulatory framework for the banking and non-bank financial institutions sector, while also contributing to financial sector consolidation. He was recently felicitated by the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka at its convention for his outstanding contributions to the banking industry.

In terms of external positions held, Karunaratne has served as the Chairman of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, the National Payment Council of Sri Lanka, the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board. He also served as a Member of the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

He holds a B.Sc. (Mathematics and Statistics) First Class from the University of Colombo, an M.Com. (Finance) from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and a PG Diploma in Applied Statistics from the University of Colombo.

Since 2021, Atarah Capital Group has listed six companies on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), including Maharaja Foods PLC, the first women-owned enterprise originating from the Northern Province to obtain a CSE listing. The company has also structured three listed company takeovers (Ramboda Falls, Alpha Fire and Myland Developments) and private placements of listed securities. In its services domain, the company offers advisory and management of IPOs, management of rights issues, and mandatory and voluntary offers. Atarah Capital also offers advisory on mergers and acquisitions, structuring private equity, business restructuring and performance improvement advisory, company and business valuations, independent advisory reports, project and business feasibility analysis, and start-up company advisory.

“We believe Janaka’s expertise will immensely assist Atarah Capital in its core strategic planning and operational performance improvement,” said Managing Director Rohan Senewiratne.