CFA Society SL Capital Market Awards 2023 to highlight smart investing for resilient portfolios

Organised by the CFA Society Sri Lanka, the 10th annual CFA Capital Market Awards, scheduled for June 21,

2023, promises to be a standout event, staying true to its overarching objective of recognising and rewarding excellence in the local capital markets.

This year’s awards are to be held under the theme ‘Invest Smart, Build Resilience, Thrive in Sri Lanka’, capturing the cautious optimism felt in the market and discussing the ways in which investors can build resilient portfolios in a Sri Lankan context, using both traditional and non-traditional investment options. 

The event is set to feature a panel discussion involving prominent industry figures, with discussion points centring on temporary and long-lasting economic risks, investment portfolio management in the current context and risk mitigation, new avenues of investment, including start-ups and success stories from other markets and countries. This will be followed by a brief Q&A session between the panel and audience.

An economist with experience across government, the private sector and academia, Deshal De Mel will provide a broad economic outlook during the panel discussion. De Mel is an Economic Adviser to the Finance Ministry, prior to which he worked in the corporate sector as Senior Economist of the Hayleys group. In addition, he was a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (2018/2019) and has served on a number of corporate and non-corporate boards. 

The panel also features Dr. Naveen Gunawardane, who will provide insights on investment options. Dr. Gunawardane is Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of LYNEAR Wealth Management, a Sri Lanka-based institutional and private wealth manager and multi-family office. He boasts over 21 years of experience in the Sri Lankan and international capital markets. At LYNEAR, he is responsible for leading the portfolio management and research teams and overall investment strategy, macro and company research. He was formerly Head of Investment Banking at CAL Partners as well as a Director and Head of Quantitative Services at Amba Research Lanka. 

Anarkali Moonesinghe, Independent Non-Executive Director on the boards of John Keells Hotels PLC and hSenid Business Solutions PLC, offering insights on investment options with a focus on start-ups, makes up the trifecta of guest panellists at this year’s CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards. She lays claim to over 25 years of investment banking experience in Europe and Asia, particularly in Asian emerging markets. Moonesinghe was previously CEO of CIMB Investment Bank in Sri Lanka, specialising in cross-border corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), having launched her career with Merrill Lynch in M&A in Singapore and then moved to London. She currently serves on the Investment Committee of Angel Fund, initiated by the Lankan Angel Network and is a Director on several boards.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Trisha Peries, CFA, who serves as Head of Research at CAL Securities and has close to a decade of experience in Sri Lanka’s financial markets. She holds expertise in providing macroeconomic views and advising in portfolio decisions for some of Sri Lanka’s largest corporations and investment funds. Prior to joining CAL, Peries functioned as Head of Economic Research at Frontier Research and currently sits on the board of directors of multiple entities.