Union Bank appoints two new Directors
The board of directors of Union Bank of Colombo PLC announced the appointment of Trevine Fernandopulle and Dilshani Gayathri Wijayawardana as Independent Non-executive Directors, with effect from April 1, 2017.
Fernandopulle is a veteran banker with over 38 years of experience in the financial services sector. Prior to being appointed as a Director of Union Bank, he served as Group Chief Risk Officer/ Executive Vice President Risk of the DFCC group from 2012 to 2016. From 2009 to 2012, he served as Chief Risk Officer at Bank of Ceylon, having initiated the setting up of its risk management functions as an Independent Risk Specialist.
Fernandopulle commenced his banking career in 1978 with HSBC Sri Lanka, where he served for 30 years until his retirement in 2008. During his tenure at HSBC, he had amassed widespread knowledge and exposure to international banking and risk management specialisms, having provided leadership to numerous functions including risk management, foreign exchange and treasury, international trade, corporate banking and retail operations of the bank and rising to the position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer (DCEO) of HSBC Sri Lanka.
Fernandopulle is a board member of the National Insurance Trust Fund and also serves on their Audit, Investment and Remuneration Committees. He serves as a member of the board of AMW Capital Leasing and Finance Ltd (an Al Futtaim Group Dubai-owned company) and its Audit, Risk and Remuneration Committees.
He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Joseph Frazer Memorial Hospital, a Past President of Chartered Institute of Bankers (Sri Lanka Branch) and a Founder Member/past Vice President of the Association of Banking Risk Professionals of Sri Lanka. Fernandopulle holds a BSC. (Mathematics) from Imperial College, University of London (UOL), an MSC (Statistics) from the London School of Economics, UOL and is also an Associate/ Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, London.
Wijayawardana is an Attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and currently serves as a Commissioner at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka. She has obtained her Masters in Law Degree from the University of Cambridge and has been in active commercial law practice since 1996. As of date, she also appears in primary and appellate court litigation with President’s Counsel K. Kanag-isvaran.
Wijayawardana began her legal career in the year 1996 as a Research Assistant to Justice Mark Fernando and then went on to work as a Legal Executive at Shook Lin & Bok-advocates and Solicitors, Singapore in the year 1999.
She has published many articles on commercial law and is also the co-author of the book ‘Company Law’ published in the year 2014. She has also served in the committee appointed for the revision of the Code of Intellectual Property in Sri Lanka and the Advisory Committee appointed for the drafting of the new Securities and Exchange Act.