The first Commission meeting of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under new Chairman Tilak Karunaratne was convened on Monday around 3.30 in the afternoon, and the meeting went on for nearly three hours.



Speaking to Mirror Business, Karunaratne said this time he has the privilege of working with very “proactive” Commission members with “sound knowledge” of the country’s capital market. “I’m extremely pleased with the new Commission members. Hopefully, we can do a lot of work together to develop the market,” he said.

The new SEC Commission comprises of 10 members including Chairman Karunaratne and 3 ex-officio members and a representative of the Central Bank.
The new appointments to the SEC Commission are; business leader Suresh Shah, Chartered Accountant and Management Consultant Ranel Wijesinha, Attorney-at-Law Rajeeva Amarasuriya, former SEC Director Legal Marina Fernando and capital market and legal professional Dili Wijewardena.
The three ex-officio appointments are; CA Sri Lanka President Arjuna Herath, Company Registrar D.N.R Siriwardena and Finance Ministry nominee S.R.Atygalle.

Deputy Governor P.Samarasiri has also been appointed a Commission member to represent the Central Bank.When queried about the appointment of a Director General, Karunaratne said the Commission decided to follow the “due procedure” in appointing one.

Since March 2013, SEC has been operating without a Director General.Academic Dr.Harendra Dissabandara served as the last Director General, who resigned from the post on March 22, 2013.Since then, the current Deputy Director General and Officer in Charge Dhammika Perera executed the responsibilities and powers vested on the Director General by the SEC Act.

This is Karunaratne’s second comeback. He was first appointed SEC Chairman in December 2011 when the then Presidential Secretary’s spouse Indrani Sugathadasa resigned from the post to ‘uphold her principles.’However, he could survive less than a year in the post, as he was asked to step down by the then regime for reportedly antagonizing some high net worth investors and influential stockbrokers.