SLIC directs Com Bank to appoint Nissanka Nanayakkara as director

The Government, on the back of getting Hatton National Bank (HNB) to appoint their nominee senior attorney Rienzie Arsekuleratne as a director late last month, has also made inroads to Commercial Bank to appoint another nominee despite resistance by many stakeholders, officials said.

"The Sri Lanka Insurance Company (SLIC) has written to Commercial Bank to appoint attorney Nissanka Nanayakkara as their nominee to the board. We will be doing this at our next board meeting," an official told the Business Times.

Mr. Nanayakkara is tipped to eventually take over as chairman, as would Mr. Arsekuleratne at HNB. However, the official said that many including the unions at Commercial Bank aren't happy about a non-banker being tipped to be appointed as chairman to manage a Rs. 1 trillion balance sheet.

Recently, as exclusively reported by the Sunday Times on March 29, N.G. Wickramaratne was appointed as a director and this week became the chairman of NDB, while another Government nominee Ananda Athukorala was appointed a director at DFCC Bank last week and is now set to take over as its chairman.

Industry sources said that Seylan will follow suit with senior banker Ravi Dias set to take over as the new chairman. “The SLIC has written to us requesting Mr. Dias to be appointed to the Seylan board (first as a director) as its nominee director. This will be permitted,” a Seylan official told the Business Times.

According to industry sources the government is slowly but surely getting its way of ensuring its nominees become chairmen of some of five of the six commercial bank boards slated for this development, while Sampath Bank is also strenuously resisting moves to accommodate senior banker Amitha Gooneratne as a director representing the interests of the EPF stake.