Financial Times

Theagarajah succeeds Rienzie Wijetilleke as HNB CEO
Rajendra Theagarajah, a chartered accountant who has been a member of Hatton National Bank's Corporate Management team since 1997, has been named as the new general manager and chief executive officer of the bank.

He succeeds Rienzie T. Wijetilleke who will shortly step down from the position of Managing Director/CEO but will continue as non-working chairman of the HNB Board, the bank announced. It also said Ratna Sivaratnam, former chairman/managing director of Aitken Spence & Co. Ltd. and chairman of Export Development Board, has been appointed as a director of HNB.

"The Board will also formally effect other structural changes in the management of the bank in the new year, in order to further add value to the organisation and prepare itself to meet the future challenges through implementation of specific strategies and continue its dominant position as the largest private commercial bank in the country," the statement said. Theagarajah, an alumni of Price Waterhouse Coopers, Sri Lanka, is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, U.K.

Having obtained his MBA from the Cranfield Business School in the U.K., Theagarajah joined the Chase Manhattan Bank (now known as J P Morgan Chase) in London and worked in General Auditing, Global Custody, Area Operations and Systems Departments with extensive exposure to the bank's branches in Europe, Middle East and North African regions. He returned to Sri Lanka in 1992 and joined Banque Indosuez (now known as Calyon) Colombo branch and served as the Deputy General Manager until the bank was acquired in 1997 by HNB.

He served as head of its City Office, International and Corporate Finance Divisions while also serving as a director of HNB Stockbrokers, HNB Assurance, HNB Securities, Sithma Development and Smart Development. Sivaratnam joined Aitken Spence & Co. as an executive in Lloyd's Insurance Department and later pioneered the company's entry into the tourism industry.

He was appointed to the Board of Aitken Spence in 1977, became CEO/managing director in 1995 and served as chairman/managing director from 1997 to 2001. He has held high positions during his career such as chairman, Employers' Federation of Sri Lanka, president, Association of Group Tour Agencies, and Honorary Consul General for Finland in Sri Lanka.

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