Vish Govindasamy appointed to CBSL Governing Board

Business leader Vish Govindasamy has been appointed to the newly set up Governing Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

To pave the way for the appointment, Govindasamy resigned from the Board of Hatton National Bank on 27 October after being appointed in June this year.

The other members of the Governing Board (formerly Monetary Board) are CBSL Governor and Chairman Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Sanjeeva Jayawardena, Nihal Fonseka, Dr. Ravi Rathnayake and Anushka Wijesinha.

The CBSL’s Governing Board is charged with the responsibility of overseeing the administration and management of the affairs of the Central Bank and the determination of general policy of the Central Bank other than the monetary policy. 

The GB shall consist of the Governor of the Central Bank (who shall be the Chairperson of the GB), six members who shall have expertise in Economics, Banking, Finance, Accounting and Auditing, Law or Risk Management. The Secretary to the GB is an employee of the Central Bank and shall be nominated by the CBSL Governor. 

Govindasamy holds an MBA and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hartford, USA. Before moving to Sri Lanka, he had several leadership roles in finance and management in the USA.

With over 26 years at its helm, Govindasamy is Sunshine Holdings PLC Group Managing Director, a diversified conglomerate which is today one of Sri Lanka’s top 50 listed companies. 

He is a fellow member of the Institute of Certified Professional Managers of Sri Lanka and was the Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Before his current position at Sunshine Holdings, Govindasamy was the CEO of Watawala Plantations, a diversified plantation management company in partnership with TATA India. At Watawala, he is largely credited with having played an instrumental role in successfully transforming a Government owned plantation company after privatisation into the highest capitalised regional plantation company to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. He is also credited with creating the Brands Zesta, Watawala and Ran Kahata which are the leading tea brands in Sri Lanka today.