Corporate Management
Mr. W. P. Russel Fonseka
General Manager / Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Russel Fonseka joined the Bank of Ceylon in January 1990. In his tenure of over 33 years in the Bank, he has gained a wealth of experience serving in various capacities within the Bank in local and international settings. Mr. Fonseka was serving as a member of the Corporate Management of the Bank since 2012 and he held the position of Additional General Manager and Chief Financial Officer of the Bank prior to appointing as the General Manager/ Chief Executive Officer in January 2023.
Commencing his career in the Bank as a retail banker, Mr. Fonseka is specialized in financial management and strategic planning in the field of banking and finance. He acquired a wide array of expertise in all aspects of commercial banking which came in handy in his tenure in the Bank. His stint with BOC London Branch groomed him into a professional banker with comprehensive experience in treasury and international affairs.
Mr. Fonseka has played a pivotal role by deploying his expertise many and varied roles in the Bank as senior member in the Corporate Management. He held the positions of Senior Deputy General Manager (Corporate & Offshore Banking), Deputy General Manager (International, Treasury, and Investment), Deputy General Manager (Retail Banking), and Deputy General Manager (Finance & Planning) of the Bank.
A graduate with a BSc. Degree in Business Administration from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, and Mr. Fonseka also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) Sri Lanka. He has also obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Southern Queensland, Australia.
As one of the senior-most eminent bankers in Sri Lanka Mr. Fonseka is a Senior Fellow Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, and an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School of USA.
Mr. Fonseka serves as a Director of the Boards of Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC, Property Development PLC, LankaClear (Private) Limited, and Transnational Lanka Records Solutions (Private) Limited.
He also holds responsibilities as the Chairman of the Audit Committees of Property Development PLC and LankaClear (Private) Limited. Mr. Fonseka was appointed to the Council of Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka with effect from February 2020.
Ms. Janaki Siriwardane
Secretary to the Board / Secretary, Bank of Ceylon
Appointed as Secretary to the Board/Secretary, Bank of Ceylon in December 2005. Joined Bank of Ceylon in 1996. She also serves as Secretary to all the subcommittees of the Board.
She is an Attorney-at-Law by profession and was a practicing lawyer. She also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law and a MBA from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Immediately prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Siriwardane was employed in the private sector handling company secretarial work. She was also a visiting lecturer, examiner and moderator on Commercial and Industrial Law at the Industrial Management Department of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. She is also the Company Secretary for some of the Subsidiaries of the Bank.
Mr. P. Maduwantha Liyanage
Chief Internal Auditor, ACA, BSc, ACCY(Special)
Mr.Maduwantha Liyanage is an Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka with 20 years of post qualified experience. He holds a BSc Accountancy and Financial Management (Special) degree from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura.
Mr.Liyanage is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA - USA). Prior to joining Bank of Ceylon as the Chief Internal Auditor, he has served at the Commercial Credit & Finance (Plc) Ltd., and Pan Asia Bank in the same capacity. Mr.Liyanage has served Bank of Ceylon in the Assistant General Manager grade during the period 2006 – 2008 as the Internal Auditor.
Mr.Liyanage's exposure also includes Lanka Clear (Pvt) Ltd.,(National Cheque Clearing House) in the capacity of Finance & Administration Manager and Ernst and Young as a Qualified Assistant.
Mr. Priyal Silva
Deputy General Manager (Branch Operations)
Mr. Priyal joined the Bank in 1997 as a Management Trainee and commenced his carrier in Branch banking as Credit Officer, Audit Officer, Branch Manager and gathering a vast experience in Retail Banking. Later-on, taking up various positions in carrying out different assignments in both local and international Banking. He experienced as a dealer of Dealing room and London Branch.
He played an Impressive role as the Senior Manager of Trade Promotion Unit and as the Chief Manager of International Division for more than 5 consecutive years. He held several key positions of bank and he played a major role of Marketing Division. He was a member of many executive management committees of the bank, including Reward and Recognition Committee and Disciplinary Authority Committee.
Mr. Priyal graduated from University of Ruhuna with Bachelor of Business Administration (Specialized in Marketing) Degree with 2nd Upper class, obtained Master of Business Degree in Accountancy from University of Kelaniya and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration. He is also an Associate Member of Chartered Institute of Marketing UK and the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Marketing by CIM.
Prior to being appointed as the Deputy General Manager (Branch Operations), Mr. Priyal held positions of the Deputy General Manager (Corporate & Offshore Banking), the Deputy General Manager (Sales and Channel Management), the Deputy General Manager (Finance & Planning) and Chief Marketing Officer in the Corporate Management. He has held the positions of Assistant General Manager (North Western Province), Assistant General Manager (Marketing) and Assistant General Manager (Western Province-North) of the Executive Management.
Mr. Y. A. Jayathilaka
Deputy General Manager (Development Banking and Branch Credit Operations - Range II)
Appointed to the Corporate Management of the Bank in February 2020, Mr Jayathilaka has performed important roles in different areas, as Deputy General Manager (Support Services), Deputy General Manager (Recovery – Provinces), Deputy General Manager (Products and Banking Development), and currently the Deputy General Manager (Development Banking and Branch Credit Operations Range 2).
Prior to his appointment to the Corporate Management Mr Jayathilaka was a member of the Executive Management, since April 2015, holding key positions of the Bank as Assistant General Manager (Product Development and Business Process Re-Engineering), Assistant General Manager (Central Province), and Assistant General Manager (Province Sales Management).
Joined the Bank in 1997, as a Management Trainee, Mr Jayathilaka has gathered vast experience in Retail Banking, Treasury and Overseas operations, Project Management, Products and process Development, and Province Operations. He was involved in implementation of major IT projects such as Project Manager for implementation of Core Banking and Trade Finance systems in BOC UK Ltd, Project Leader for upgrading Core Banking System and Teller System of the Bank, and the Project Manager for implementation of DMS and Workflow Automation System of the Bank. Further, Mr Jayathilaka has over 10 years’ experience in Dealing Room and Treasury Back Office, both in BOC head office and BOC UK Ltd.
Amongst his major contributions to the Bank and the banking industry of the country include introducing Mobile Branches (Branch on Wheels), Digital Branches (BOC DIGI), Smart Passbook, Smart FD, e-statements, e-learning, self-banking kiosks, cheque deposit kiosks, Apply Online via website, TV BOC, and BOC Connect (Agent Banking).
Mr Jayathilaka is a Graduate in B.Sc. (Business Administration) special from University of Sri Jayewardenepura, holds Master of Business (Finance) Degree from University of Kelaniya, Diploma in Banking & Finance, Associate of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, and completed the Advanced Course in Strategic Management of the Postgraduate Institute of Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura.
Mr. Jayathilaka serves as a Director of the Boards of Property Development PLC, Hotels Colombo (1963) Limited, and holds responsibilities as the Chairman to the Audit Committee of Hotels Colombo (1963) Limited, and member for the Related Party Transactions Committee of Property Development PLC.
Mr. D. S. Muthukudaarachchi
Deputy General Manager (Recovery Corporate)
Mr. D S Muthukudaarachchi is a career banker counting over 30 years of experience in diverse aspects of the banking operations in local and international banking arena. He graduated from the University of Sri Jayawadhenepura with a special degree in B. Sc. Estate Management & Valuation.
Mr. Muthukudarachchi joining the bank in 1990 and commencing the banking career as a Management Trainee, initially obtained his wide experience in retail banking serving several branches in different areas in the country. He then acquired diverse aspects of Corporate Banking serving over 12 years in Corporate branch, Credit Department in different capacities. He possesses wide and varied experience in operational aspects in relation to Credit Risk management in the bank acquired through working at Corporate- Credit Department and Offshore Banking Division whilst serving in the capacities of Relationship Officer, Relationship Manager, Assistant General Manager (Corporater Relations) and Assistant General Manager (Offshore Banking)
The experience of Mr Muthukudaarachchi in relation to the operational aspects of overseas branches in various capacities spans nearly eleven years including the posts of Chief Operating Officer, (Bank of Ceylon (UK) Limited (2011/14) and the Country Manager/ Cheif Executive Officer, Chennai branch (2017/ 2020). During his tenure as the COO of BOC (UK), he also served as an Executive/ Non Independent Director of the Board and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. He, whilst serving in London and Chennai, got the rare opportunity in obtaining a broad exposure in higly develpoed regulatory regime in financial sector.
Mr. Sameera Liyanage
Chief Marketing Officer
Mr. Sameera Liyanage was appointed as the bank’s Chief Marketing Officer on 4th August 2020. He is counting over 22 years of banking and marketing professional experience across both public & private sector institutions, and awarded Chartered Marketer status in 2015 by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK).
He completed a 6-year stint with SDB bank in the capacity of Head of Marketing & Retail Banking, before taking up the top job in marketing at BOC. Previously, he held Manager - Marketing positions at Pan Asia Bank (6 years), National Savings Bank (5 years) and Seylan Merchant Bank (2 years).
Considered a thought-leader in banking and marketing islandwide, he gained industry acclaim through his pioneering role in the market launch of numerous unprecedented loan and savings products. Mr. Sameera Liyanage was responsible for introducing the retired government pensioner loan scheme to local banking for the first time, as well as initiating special banking products for war heroes plus their immediate dependents.
These products have gone on to become staple offerings in most banks and served critical sections of our population, rendering his contributions to their origination all the more merit-worthy.
An academically and professionally accomplished individual, he possesses a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) and is a member of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Bankers - Sri Lanka.
An esteemed old boy of Nalanda College, Colombo, he previously functioned as the General Manager of the Future Minds higher education and career guidance exhibition organized annually by his alma mater, and presently performs an advisory role. He also served as the president of Nalanda College Junior old boys association for year 2019/2020
Mr. G. A. Jayashantha
Chief Risk Officer
Mr. Jayashantha appointed to the Corporate management of the bank as the Deputy General Manager Retail Banking Range II from August 2020 and currently serving as the Chief Risk Officer. He joined the bank in 1997 as a Management Trainee and has assumed duties with retail banking specializing in retail and SME credit and branch operations in his early part of his career and then he joined the Treasury Division and serving there more than 10 years in various capacities in the sphere of Dealing, PDU and ALM. His immense contribution towards the success of bank’s first international bond issue, dollar denominated debenture issue and raising funds from international market via various instruments to the bank were quite significant while serving in the Treasury Division. He received 8 years executive management experience and held the positions of AGM(Recovery Corporate) AGM (Risk Management) AGM (western Province South) and AGM(Offshore Banking) before he was promote to the grade of Deputy General Manager. While serving as Assistant General Manager he was a member and the Chairman of the Bank’s Disciplinary Authority Panel and served there almost 5 years.
He is also a Director of Property Development Management Company Limited and Ceybank Asset Management Limited.
He graduated from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura,Sri Lanka in 1994 with a B.Sc Business Administration (Special) degree in First Class. He holds a Master of Arts in Financial Economics at University of Colombo and also holds a Diploma in Credit Management. He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.
Mr. M. P. Ruwan Kumara
Deputy General Manager (Finance & Planning)
He possess over 18 years of hands on experience in banking operations with specialized knowledge in financial Management, Strategic Planning, Investment Banking and Commercial Banking. He also has gained extensive experience in serving in Bank of Ceylon (UK) Limited as Chief Operating Officer. He was later appointed to the Executive Management of the Bank as the Assistant General Manager Investment and Assistant General Manager Budget, Strategic Planning & MIS.
He is a graduate of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura with a Bachelor of Science (Special) Degree in Accountancy and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Open University of Sri Lanka. He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka , Associate Member of Certificate Management Accountancy of Sri Lanka, Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and also a Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID).
Mr. R. M. N. Jeewantha
Deputy General Manager (International, Treasury & Investment)
Mr. R M N Jeewantha was appointed to the Corporate Management of the bank in August 2020 and assumed duties as Deputy General Manager (International, Treasury & Investment).
Mr. Jeewantha is a graduate of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and holds a BSc Degree in Accountancy (Special). Later on, he obtained his MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) in 2008. He is also an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (AIB).
Mr. Jeewantha joined Bank of Ceylon in 2002 as a Management Trainee and possesses vast experience in retail banking, credit management and financial management. However, his forte lies in Treasury Management and Investment Banking and he commenced his Treasury career at the Dealing Room in 2008 as a Trainee Dealer and successfully rose to the position of CEO of Bank of Ceylon Primary Dealer Unit. He was later appointed to the Executive Management of the Bank as the Assistant General Manager (Treasury). In addition, he has gained international banking exposure by working in Bank of Ceylon, London.
Apart from the functions of the Treasury Division, he has served as the Head of the Committee for the Investment in Government Securities (CIGS), Member of the Investment Committee and Secretary of Asset & Liability Management Committee (ALCO) of Bank of Ceylon.
Presently, Mr. Jeewantha holds the positions of Director in Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance Plc, Lanka Securities (Pvt) Ltd and Ceybank Asset Management Ltd, Alternate Director, Transnational Lanka Records Solution (Private) Ltd and Member of the Governing Board of Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka. He also functions as a Member of the Central Bank’s Domestic Financial Market Infrastructure Development project. He is a Member of the Special Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (SSCAPC) of Ministry of Energy for the procurement of Petroleum and petroleum related products representing Bank of Ceylon. He is also Member of the Public Enterprises Project Evaluation committee of Prospective Investors and Committee Member of specific selling committee for the sale of Mineral Products of Lanka Mineral Sands Limited appointed by the Ministry of Industries.
Mr. S. Sivanjan
Deputy General Manager (Support Services)
Mr Sivanjan was appointed to the bank’s Corporate Management as the Deputy General Manager (Support Services) from September 2020 and served as the Deputy General Manager (Branch Credit Operations – Range I) covering the credit operations of five provinces. Now he serves as the Deputy General Manager (Support Services) of the Bank. Prior to this appointment, he has held the position of the Assistant General Manager (International) since 2018. Mr S Sivanjan joined the bank as a Management Trainee in 2002. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from University of Jaffna with a First Class Honors and a MBA from University of Colombo in 2010 specializing in Marketing.
Mr Sivanjan has commenced his banking journey with the retail branch operations. He also served in our Chennai branch and gained vast knowledge in overseas branch operations. He possess extensive experience in credit, recovery, development banking and microfinance areas by serving in different grades and divisions. He is a visiting faculty member of the bank’s Central Training Institute since 2010. Several transformation initiatives of the bank has been lead by him during the transformation journey of the bank.
Mrs. W. B. P. Rathnayake
Deputy General Manager (Compliance)
Mrs. Rathnayake was appointed a Deputy General Manager of the Bank in August 2020 and assumed duties as Chief Risk Officer and currently serving as the Deputy General Manager (Compliance). She has gained experience in all aspects of commercial banking and local and international exposure during her career spanning 23 years.
Prior to her appointment as a Deputy General Manager, after being promoted as an Assistant General Manager in April 2015, she held key positions within the Bank as AGM (Corporate Credit) and AGM (Western Province North). During her tenure as AGM (Corporate Credit) she served as the secretary to the Bank’s Credit Committee for more than 3 years.
She began her career as a management trainee in 1997. During this period, she gained experience in branch banking and in handling both retail and corporate credit portfolios. She gained international exposure during her service at Chennai Branch.
Mrs. Rathnayake was one of the founding staff members when the Risk Management Division was established in the Bank in year 2009. She was instrumental in developing risk management policies as well as risk management tools for the bank as per the regulatory guidelines and rendered an invaluable service for over five years to the Risk Division, the division she now heads.
She is a graduate of the University of Ruhuna with a Bachelor of Sciences (Special) degree in Agriculture and holds a Master of Business Administration from the Open University of Sri Lanka. She is an Associate member of Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka and holds a Postgraduate Executive Diploma in Bank Management from the same institute.
Mr. Badra Kalyanapriya Gurusinghe
Chief Legal Officer
Mr. Badra Kalyanapriya Gurusinghe was appointed to the role of Deputy General Manager (Retail Banking Range II) in September 2020, thereby becoming a member of the bank’s Corporate Management, and he is currently serving as the Chief Legal Officer. Commencing his career at BOC in 1997 as a Management Trainee, he’s been recognized over the years for his contributions to the bank’s strategic growth and transformation efforts.
Counting 23 plus years as a banking professional, his core areas of expertise involve Corporate & Retail Banking plus Organizational Transformation. Prior to his appointment as the DGM - Compliance, Mr. Gurusinghe served as the Country Manager - Maldives from 2017 to 2020. He also counts an earlier 3-year stint in the capacity of Operations Officer at the Bank of Ceylon - Maldives Branch, among his foreign operations experience.
Mr. Gurusinghe performed an active role in a number of the bank’s restructuring and transformation initiatives, including being a core team member of both the Wenesa Project and the ICBS Project.
An accomplished individual, he holds a long list of academic qualifications including a B.Sc. (Business Administration) Sp. - University of Sri Jayewardenepura, a Commonwealth Executive MBA (CEMBA) - The Open University of Sri Lanka, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Financial Administration (PgDBM) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and also holds a Diploma in Credit Management from Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Gurusinghe is also a professionally qualified Attorney-at-Law from the Sri Lanka Law College, plus a member of prestigious organizations such as the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka as well as the Sri Lanka Bar Association.
Mr. M. R. N. Rohana Kumara
Deputy General Manager (Recovery Provinces, Business Revival & Rehabilitation)
Mr. MRN Rohana Kumara was appointed as the Deputy General Manager (Recovery Provinces, Business Revival & Rehabilitation) in January 2021. Prior to this appointment, he has held the positions of Assistant General Manager (Branch Credit) Assistant General Manager (Project Finance) and Assistant General Manager (Recovery Provinces), on his being appointed an AGM in 2018. He joined the Bank in 2002 as a Management Trainee and commenced his career as a credit officer in Branch banking. He has experience in working as a Branch Manager and as a Personal Assistant to the General Manager.
He has performed other duties as the Secretary to the Corporate Management committee Compliance Officer CRIB, Complaint Resolution Officer, and Information Officer Bank of Ceylon. He is also associated with the Central Training Institute of the Bank of Ceylon.
He is also a life member of the Association of Professional Bankers (APB), Sri Lanka and presently serves as a council member of the APB.
He is a graduate of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka and holds a BSc (Mathematics) 1st Class Degree and has a Diploma in Banking and Finance from IBSL and an executive Diploma in Leadership from Northern Illinois University of USA.
Mr. A. R. F. John Pulle
Deputy General Manager (Branch Credit Operations - Range I)
Mr. A.R.F. John Pulle appointed to the Corporate Management in July 2021
With over 30 years of experience in all aspects commercial banking; specializing in Treasury Management, Retail Banking, Risk Management and Overseas Banking operations. Functioned as the Head of Treasury in Bank of Ceylon, Chennai and as the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Ceylon(UK) Ltd in London.
Mr. John Pulle holds a B.Ph(1st class) degree in Philosophy from the Universita’ Pontificia Salesiana, Italy and an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Nilantha Meneripitiyage
Deputy General Manager (Corporate & Offshore Banking)
Mr.Nilantha Meneripitiyage is a career banker with over 30 years’ experience. His experience covers both local and overseas operations including Maldives and the UK and areas such as corporate banking, retail banking, risk management, credit card operations, treasury operations and information technology.
Prior to his being appointed as a Deputy General Manager he served as the Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director of Bank of Ceylon (UK) Ltd., a fully-owned subsidiary of Bank of Ceylon. He, whist saving in the UK, got the rare opportunity to have a broad exposure in a highly developed and regulated financial market and to place Bank of Ceylon (UK) to a different height. Before being posted to the UK he held the post of Assistant General Manager (Risk Management). His period of works with the Corporate Relations handling large-scale businesses and government sector infrastructure projects including renewable energy thus contribute in mitigating the financial related climate risk, and as Operations Manager in the Maldives are among his other noteworthy contributions.
He holds a Bachelor of Science (Management) Hons special degree and a Master of Science(Management) degree from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura, a Diploma in Banking and Finance and is an Associate of the Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka and has completed examinations of the Australian Computer Society. He has undergone extensive training in Banking and Management in India, Malaysia, UK, Singapore and Japan. He was a visiting lecture affiliated to the Post Graduate Studies Department of the University of Moratuwa, The Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka, Export Development Board and the Central Training Institute of the Bank of Ceylon.
Mr. K.A.D. Wijayawardane
Deputy General Manager (Human Resources)
Wijayawardhane joined the Bank as a Management Trainee in March 2002 and in September 2021, after almost 20 years of invaluable experience and exposure, he was appointed to the Corporate Management cadre as DGM (Human Resources).
Of his 2 decades of experience and know-how, Wijayawardhane has gathered 3-years of experience as Assistant General Manager (HR Operations), and 15-years in Branch Banking specializing in Credit and Retail Banking.
He has impressive academic and professional credentials to match his work experience. A Bachelor of Science (General)Degree (with a Second Class Upper) (Honours) from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management from the Wayamba University of Sri Lanka.
He has an AIB Sri Lanka from IBSL to distinguish his proficiency in the banking sphere. He is also a life member of the Association of Professional Bankers (APB), Sri Lanka.
It all speaks volumes about the acumen of the adept professional, and he must have what it takes, to recruit and manage the biggest bank’s biggest number of Human Resources.
Mr. K. A. Ajith Karunarathne
Deputy General Manager (Product & Banking Development)
Mr.Ajith Karunarathne is a graduate of BSc in Business Administration (Special) from University of Sri Jayawardanapura and a holder of Master’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Wayamba. He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Bankers of Sri Lanka (AIB) and also a member of Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).
Mr.Karunarathne was appointed to the corporate management carder in December 2021 and assumed his duties as the DGM (Product & Banking Development). Joining the Bank of Ceylon as a management trainee in 2002, Mr.Karunarathne has served almost 20 years exemplary service to the Bank of Ceylon rendering his rationale intelligibility in all the arenas of Retail Banking, Trade Finance, Corporate and Premier Banking while establishing a profound management and leadership roles in the Bank’s branch network.
Being the head of the Premier Branch and Personal Branch, Mr.Karunarathne maintained corporate relationships with the large-scale business clients, major corporates and firms of the economic entities of the country.
Mr.Karunarathne took over the Southern Province as the Assistant General Manager accomplishing a leading role to enrich the performance of the province by providing an excellent service through his enormous contribution and know-how in advancing the economic activities of the province.
His eminent knowledge and experiences in the field definitely will support to the progression of the Product & Banking Development sector of the Bank of Ceylon.
