Seylan Bank PLC yesterday announced the appointment of Ramesh Jayasekara as its new Director/Chief Executive Officer, effective from 1 May 2023.

Having joined Seylan Bank in 2011 as Chief Financial Officer, Ramesh was later appointed Chief Risk Officer in 2016 and assumed the role of Deputy General Manager - Corporate Banking from 2018 until 2019. He was promoted to Senior Deputy General Manager in January 2020 and elevated to Chief Operating Officer the following year.

Ramesh also serves as a Non-Executive Director of Seylan Development PLC, since November 2012.

As an integral part of the leadership team for many years, Ramesh brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this new position. Over the years Ramesh has garnered extensive experience in various roles and positions at Seylan and demonstrates substantial capacity to lead the bank, and a commitment to its values and mission, strengthening the brand, and building stronger foundations for its future success.

Ramesh holds a first class honours degree from the University of Colombo.  He is an Associate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, Chartered Institute of Marketing – United Kingdom, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom and Certified Management Accounts of Sri Lanka.

Contributing to the long-term strategy of the bank, Ramesh has over 20 years of experience in Banking, Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Risk and Audit, both locally and internationally. Prior to joining Seylan Bank PLC, Ramesh has gained extensive international experience as Deputy Regional Financial Controller of the French Banking giant BNP Paribas, Middle East Region comprising Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Cyprus. In Sri Lanka, he held senior roles at HSBC Sri Lanka as Resident Manager - Finance & Planning and at KPMG Sri Lanka as an Audit Manager.  

Ramesh’s comprehensive experience in operations, combined with introduction of relevant technological improvements will inevitably contribute to advancing Seylan’s digitalisation strategy, commitment to providing superior products and an exceptional customer experience, continuing to lead the bank with integrity, innovation, and a customer-first approach.

Ramesh was appointed Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in September 2022 and will succeed current Director/CEO Kapila Ariyaratne, who is retiring after 12 years of dedicated service, which involved many significant accomplishments.

The new Director/CEO will take over the reins of the bank from the stewardship of Kapila Ariyaratne.