Former HSBC staffer Piyaratna returns to banking

By Priyeni de Silva McLeod

Sarath Piyaratna, a highly respected and successful banker and a pioneer in consumer banking in Sri Lanka, who retired as deputy CEO of HSBC, has returned to banking with his new appointment as Executive Director, Nations Trust Bank.

Zulfiqar Zavahir

In an interview, he said his main responsibility is to provide input and guidance to the CEO and the management team of the bank to develop and implement strategies to accelerate business growth. “Being a relatively new Bank has its advantages. We have a young, well motivated team, a clean book and a lean operating structure. This is a sound foundation to build a winning business and my job is to develop strategies, guide and support the team to achieve the objectives in the shortest possible time,” he said.

He will also chair the Board Supervisory Committee which has been set up to enable the Board of Directors to actively monitor the development of the business.

Sarath Piyaratna

He said the Bank needs to focus on identifying and delivering what the customer actually wants and not simply deliver what the bank wants the customers to have.

On the retail front, he planned to focus on providing wealth management services or in other words, a complete range of financial services including Personal Asset Management, Insurance, Retirement planning, etc.

Commenting on the Sri Lankan conflict and its impact on the economy, he said Sri Lanka is a very resilient nation with strong economic fundamentals. “The way the world is moving, I will not be too surprised if we solve our problems and make Sri Lanka a safer and better place compared to the more developed world where bigger changes are taking place.”