Mr. Damith Pallewatte, FRM®, SCR®, FCMA, CGMA
Mr. Damith Pallewatte, FRM®, SCR®, FCMA, CGMA
Acting CEO
Hatton National Bank
(Sri Lanka)
A qualified Banking & Risk Management Professional with 28+ years of experience in the banking sector of which 14+ years in Senior/Corporate Management having exposure to the full spectrum of banking covering Credit, Branch Banking, and Operations including Strategy & Risk Management. He has held Corporate Management Positions in two leading Private Sector Commercial banks in Sri Lanka.
As Senior/Corporate Management Team member he has lead structuring and implementing core solutions to various problems faced by these financial institutions. Those involved developing Requests for Proposals (RFP), Managing Procurement of Leading advisory consultancy, System implementers, and multi-lateral institutions. Some of these larger projects included the likes of Boston Consultancy Group (BCG), Fair Isaac Inc., CRISIL-India, PWC, KPMG, E&Y, Deloitte, and multilateral organizations like World Bank, IFC, ADB. This exposure has helped Mr. Pallewatte to look at Financial Institution space in Sri Lanka not only as a player which generates revenue but as a provider of financial solution to the existing demand in the society leading to impactful growth of the economy and financial inclusion.
Currently Mr. Pallewatte is working as the Deputy General Manager – Wholesale Banking Group overlooking business Segments covering Corporate Banking, Emerging Corporates, Trade Finance, Financial Institutions, Treasury Services, Payments & Cash Management, Custody and Trustee Services, Islamic Banking and Project Finance. Previously he held positions of Deputy General Manager Risk / Chief Risk Officer (CRO)/Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Hatton National Bank the second largest private sector commercial bank in Sri Lanka. Prior to joining HNB he was the Chief Risk Officer of Nations Trust Bank PLC.
In November 2021 he was appointed Chairman/Director of Lanka Ventures PLC, a venture Capital Company listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and LVL Energy Fund PLC, another entity listed in CSE with investments in renewable and thermal power projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. He is also a Director of Acuity Partners (Pvt) Ltd (APL) a full-service investment bank promoted as an equally owned joint venture between HNB & DFCC Bank, and Acuity Securities (Pvt) Ltd an appointed Primary Dealer which is a part of APL group. He has also been appointed as a Director of Lanka Financial Services Bureau Limited [LFSBL] and Vice President/Director of International Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka [ICCSL] in January 2024. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM), University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka and earned his Bachelor of Science – Management (Hons) degree from University of London, London School of Economics (LSE). He has been admitted as a Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) by Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). he is also an “ACI Operations Certificate” Holder covering Treasury Operations from Financial Markets Association, France, a “Sustainability and Climate Risk Certificate” (SCR) holder from GARP, and a Fellow Member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants CIMA (FCMA), UK and Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).
He has been appointed to MESANA (Middle East South Asia and North Africa) Regional Advisory Panel of Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (AICPA) for year 2020/21 and MESANA Regional Engagement Panel for 2022/23 by CIMA and elected as Vice Chairman of CIMA Country Network Committee (CNC), Sri Lanka in 2021/22. He has also served as the Chair of South Asia Area Committee of CIMA and AICPA for year 2022/23. He was a past president of Association of Banking Sector Risk Professionals, also Known as the “CRO Forum”. He was also appointed as Chairman of the Technical Committee appointed to recommend technological advancements for Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka (CRIB) by Central Bank of Sri Lanka and he was also appointed as a Banking Industry Representative by Sri Lanka Bankers Association, SLBA, to the Committee established on the proposed Financial Assets Management Agency (FAMA).
Mr. Pallewatte has been a resource personnel for Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka (IBSL) and Centre of Banking Studies, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and Sri Lanka Institute of Directors (SLID).
