To continue to be stronger and stable into the future, we will invest in building the right talent pool engaging our people giving opportunities to, and inspiring them to reach their full potential. The Bank presently work with over 9,000+ minds in a great mix of knowledge of the entity and the new blood.
I have assumed the duties as the General Manager/CEO from January 2013 after a 29 years of stint working across the Bank taking over from
Mr. Dharmasiri, the outgoing General Manager/CEO. My sincere appreciation goes to the Chairman and the Board of Directors of the Bank for having chosen me to this herculean task of driving this institution at a time when Banks have to play a pivotal role in building the nation and enhancing the wealth of the nation. I also take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Sri Lanka for accepting my appointment.
It is my great pleasure to note that this Bank has come a long way to the number one position in the industry due to the commitments, loyalty and integrity of its past leaders, talents of its employees and the immense supports of its stakeholders. I remember them with my heartfelt gratitude. I therefore inherited an institution with a great culture of honesty and integrity which are the far most ingredients to steer the systemically most important Bank and I will continue to deliver the right leadership to maintain our culture of integrity and Bank' hard earned name.
Earning profits is not so difficult for which you could find many ways including short cuts. But earning public trust making the institution as a great confidence builder is not easy and that journey has no short cuts. It has only one path and that is the most difficult path with many sacrifices. Our Bank's history is rich with peoples who made sacrifices at all times. Now it is my duty to steer this "Titanic" and the waters ahead is full of challenges and require new paths and new methods of sailing.
To continue to be stronger and stable into the future, we will invest in building the right talent pool engaging our people giving opportunities to, and inspiring them to reach their full potential. The Bank presently work with over 9,000+ minds in a great mix of knowledge of the entity and the new blood. A substantial investment will be made into people's skills and talents in all discipline of business. We will change our modus operandi to create a culture that everyone believes in himself/herself and believes in others, an environment that true power of the team work is exploited.
We will continue to invest to enhance the delivery capability of the branch network expanding the depth of the service and changing the look and feel of the infrastructure into a modernized look. We will consolidate our position in already opened customer service centers and convert our extension offices which presently offer limited banking services into full service branches.
Plans are set to modernise our IT platform to offer more efficient customer services and to better manage the Bank. In this regard our main core banking system is set for a major upgrade with enhanced front-end service capability. Risk management systems & processes will be upgraded to internationally accepted norms. Several other initiatives are lined up to transform the bank into the bank of the choice of the future generation.
We will continue to offer our maximum strength to make Sri Lanka a better place to live.
D M Gunasekara
General Manager
21st March 2013
Colombo
