Steered by strong leadership, we are governed to ensure our functions are efficient and transparent
Top economist and senior banker, Dr. Kenneth De Zilwa assumed duty as the 5th Chairman of LankaPay on 1st June, 2021 for a term of three years.
Dr. De Zilwa counts for over 20 years of experience in banking, managing business at senior managerial level across all verticals. He is an expert in Treasury, especially in the areas of risk management, money markets and debt markets; in both domestic and international financial markets, alike. He was a part of the Global Advisory team for Government of Sri Lanka USD Bond Issuance and worked closely with the senior officials of the Central Bank in drafting guidelines for the market during his tenure at HSBC.
Dr. De Zilwa was also the President of the Sri Lanka Forex Association and has been instrumental in setting up of the ACI Market Ethics Committee, Education Committee and a Regulatory Framework, inspiring and leading the Association to new heights. Under his leadership, Dr. De Zilwa was able to gain Sri Lanka Forex the full membership of ACI International and make the Association internationally reputed. He was appointed Secretary for the ACI Model Code Committee by Central Bank and was responsible for Sri Lanka’s First Interest Rate Option and Currency Derivative Transactions in Sri Lanka and also developed the First Islamic Finance Rupee Bond i.e. Sukuk. He was recently appointed by UNDP as a consultant to the Ministry of Finance & Planning apart from being a consultant to several leading local and international organizations.
A veteran in Business Cycles and Real Economy, Dr. De Zilwa holds a PhD, an MA in Economics and a Postgraduate Diploma in Development Economics from the University of Colombo. He also holds an MA in Economics for Development from the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, Netherlands apart from the Postgraduate Diploma in Bank Management and Finance from the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka. He has contributed to many papers in reputed Journals, including the anniversary edition of the Association of Professional Bankers.
Mr. Russel Fonseka, Additional General Manager/Chief Financial Officer Bank of Ceylon appointed as a Director on the Board of LankaPay (Private) Limited with effect from 12th May 2020.
He currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer/Senior Deputy General Manager (Corporate & Offshore Banking) of Bank of Ceylon and has been representing the Corporate Management of the Bank since 2012. He counts more than 30 years of experience in both international and local arenas whilst acquiring wide experience in all aspects of commercial banking including treasury activities, international operations, retail banking and specialized in financial management and strategic planning of the Bank of Ceylon.
Mr Fonseka serves as a Director on the Boards of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC, Property Development PLC and Transnational Lanka Records Solutions (Private) Limited. He also served as an Alternate Director on the Board of LankaPay (Private) Limited. Mr Fonseka acts as the Chairman to the Audit Committees of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC, Property Development PLC and LankaPay (Private) Limited as well. Mr Fonseka was appointed to the Council of Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka with effect from 05th February 2020 and serves as the President of the Governing Council since then.
Mr Fonseka graduated from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka with a Bachelor of Science (Special) Degree in Business Administration and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura Sri Lanka and a Master Degree of Business Administration from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Mr Fonseka is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, a Senior Fellow Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and a Member of the Alumni of the Harvard Business School of USA as well.
Mr. Bandara has over 25 years of experience at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) in the areas of financial system stability, economic and price stability, corporate services, agency functions, business continuity planning, enterprise-wide risk management and strategic planning. He holds the position of Assistant Governor of CBSL, and oversees the Employees’ Provident Fund, Payments and Settlements and Information Technology departments. He serves as a member of the boards of LankaPay (Pvt.) Ltd., Canwill Holdings (Pvt.) Ltd. and Sinolanka Hotels & Spa (Pvt.) Ltd. He functioned as the Secretary to the Sovereign Ratings Committee, Member of the Steering Committee for international sovereign bond issuances by the Government of Sri Lanka, Secretary to the Payments Reform Steering Committee, Assistant Secretary to the Board Risk Oversight Committee, Secretary to the Non-Financial Risk Management Committee, Member of the Employees’ Provident Fund Investment Oversight Committee and an Observer of the Monetary Board Advisory Audit Committee, Business Continuity Planning Committee, International Reserves Investment Oversight Committee, Internal Investment Oversight Committee, and the Financial System Stability Committee. He also served as a member in many cabinet appointed committees established to improve the country’s financial market infrastructure by implementing national level projects. He has served in the Departments of Risk Management, Policy Review and Monitoring, Payments and Settlements, Public Debt and Information Technology. He was instrumental in establishing the first on-line communication network between CBSL, licensed commercial banks and the primary dealers, and establishment of the Lanka Financial Services Bureau Ltd. He designed and developed the electronic bidding systems for primary auction of government securities, the settlement system for open market operations and the on-line financial market monitoring and regulatory reporting systems of CBSL. He played a key role in implementing the national payments and securities settlement systems infrastructure of the country. He functioned as a Director of the Board, and a Member of the Board Human Resource Committee and the Board Audit Committee of the LankaPay Private Ltd., and as chairman and member of several technical and steering committees of LankaPay (Pvt) Ltd. He was nominated as a Director of the Board of Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team, a Member of the Steering Committee of the Technology Industry Development Strategic Business Unit of the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka and representative of CBSL for the National Steering Committee on Education Reforms established by the Ministry of Education, for formulating education reforms for the general education system, higher education and technical and vocational education. He also served as a Chief Examiner of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Information Technology from Charles Sturt University, Australia, a Bachelor of Technology Degree in Computer Science from Monash University, Australia and a Diploma in Central Banking. He is also a Member of the Computer Society of Sri Lanka.
Mr Fonseka is a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Postgraduate Institute of Management of University of Sri Jayewardenepura. He has received a Distinction for the ACI Dealing Certificate and counts more than 28 years’ experience in Treasury Management. He is also a Certified Member (CMA) of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants of Australia. He has acted as the President of the Association of Primary Dealers during the period of 2018 to 2020, as a member of the National Payment Council, Financial System Stability Consultative Committee and the task force to study and design a new alternative benchmark interest rates committee of Central Bank of Sri Lanka. At present, he acts as a member of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s Market Working Group on Domestic Financial Market Infrastructure Development Project. He also acts as a non-independent Non- Executive Director at People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, People’s Leasing Property Development Limited and Lankan Alliance Finance Limited at present. Furthermore, he has acted as a Chief Examiner for Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka’s IABF/DABF Examinations previously. Mr Fonseka joined People’s Bank in 2002 and he has been a member of People’s Bank Senior Corporate Management team from November 2011 as Deputy General Manager – Treasury, Investment Banking and Financial Institutions prior to which he served at American Express Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.
Mr. de Silva brings well seasoned skill and expertise in banking, finance and commerce to his role at SLBA through which he comes to the Board of LankaPay as an observer. His wide ranging knowledge and particular experience in the areas of Credit and Risk has been gained in a career of over 45 years in which he has held progressively senior positions in banking and financial services as well as in general management of diversified private sector commercial entities both in Sri Lanka and internationally.
Beginning in Sri Lanka as a Management Trainee at Commercial Bank and progressing through credit and branch managerial roles, Mr. de Silva moved to the private sector at board level with the Lewis Browns Holding Company Group. He left Sri Lanka in 1988 and has had varied international experience with the HSBC Group where he stayed until his retirement at the end of 2012.At HSBC, Mr. de Silva has headed the Credit and Risk functions in HSBC subsidiaries and new acquisitions. He is familiar with the challenges of managing risk and implementing change; viewed from the Chief Credit Officer’s seat in HSBC Bermuda, managing the bank’s exposure to the insurance / reinsurance industry,hedge funds, banks, sovereigns and MNCs during the ‘financial crisis’. He also had a quite different experience from the Chief Risk Officer’s seat in HSBC / Dar Es Salaam Investment Bank in Baghdad. In both these jurisdictions he was in the midst of managing the significant challenges arising from major system implementations /conversions, in the ‘new’ HSBC acquisitions.
After retirement from the HSBC Group at end of 2012 he lived in the UK undertaking adhoc consultancy assignments until his return to Sri Lanka in August 2016. He assumed the current role as Secretary General at SLBA on 1 August 2017.
Mr. de Silva holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Sri Lanka, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers UK and has been admitted as an Attorney at Law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Herath is a highly experienced and accomplished IT professional with over 25 years of experience. He is currently the Director of the Information Technology
Department of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
He has a strong technical background with an MBA from Postgraduate Institute of Business Management (PIM) of University of Sri Jayewardenepura,
and a B.Sc. (Engineering) degree specializing in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He is a Charted Engineer
and a Corporate Member of Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL).
With extensive experience in technology and project management, he has successfully led multiple projects, driving innovation and efficiency.
He has played different roles in several internal and external forums/committees in information technology and payment technology-related fields.
He has played instrumental roles and being the project manager for implementation of Real Time Gross Management System (RTGS), Securities Settlement
System, Reserve Management System, Capital Market Development, SWIFT related implementation etc.
Mr. Herath currently chairs the Steering Committee of the FINCSIRT (Sri Lanka Financial Sector Computer Security Incident Response Team),
which strives to ensure the IT Security of the SRI Lanka Financial Sector.
Mr Ramesh Jayasekara was appointed as the Director/Chief Executive Officer of Seylan Bank PLC on 1st May 2023.
He was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Bank prior to his appointment as the Director/Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Jayasekara joined Seylan Bank in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer and was appointed as the Chief Risk Officer in 2016. He was the Deputy General
Manger – Corporate Banking of the Bank from 2018 to 2019. In January 2020, he was promoted to the grade of Senior Deputy General Manager.
In January 2021, he was made the Chief Operating Officer of the Bank and in terms of succession was appointed the Deputy Chief Executive
Officer in September 2022. Mr Ramesh Jayasekara is also the Chairman of Seylan Developments PLC.
Prior to joining Seylan Bank PLC, he was the Deputy Regional Financial Controller of the French Banking giant BNP Paribas, Middle East Region – (Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Cyprus) based in Bahrain. He has also worked at HSBC Sri Lanka as Resident Manager – Finance & Planning and at
KPMG Sri Lanka as an Audit Manager.
He has over 20 years of experience in Banking, Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Risk and Audit both locally and internationally.
