Private banks with govt. directors
I am disturbed by your recent articles on the state of play within the private banks … especially with Commercial Bank. You mention the bank is packed with people connected to or working for the state. Prof. Uditha Liyanage is also attached to the university system; therefore, he is also a state employee. The government therefore virtually controls that bank. This is unprecedented in the annals of banking. These people who are so openly raping the system do not realise they are accountable to the public and at some point of time they will have to pay for their acts of omission or commission. Many people have fallen from grace in Sri Lanka for past misdeeds are now languishing in jail.
A private bank, which does not have operational independence would always risk having its policy influenced by other institutions or persons with objectives other than the welfare of the institution, which would obviously weaken the bank’s ability to operate profitably,
Therefore, it is a pity that when the media like the Business Times highlights gross violations of basic decent business practices, the people in power are so callous and continue to disregard the basic decencies and appoint people with a tainted past as chairman of such great institutions like the Commercial Bank. The push to buy finance companies that have been exploited by directors at high prices is against basic business practices. Instead of charging those directors for ruining their companies they are given a golden handshake and their companies are getting bought by private banks. What a state of affairs?
Joe Rathnayake
Nugegoda