The Trade Finance Association of Bankers (TFAB) recently held its 25th Annual General Meeting at the Rainbow Room, Grand Oriental Hotel, and Colombo. This year is significant as the TFAB celebrates its Silver Jubilee.
Trade Finance Association of Bankers’, which was formed in the year 1997, is the professional association bringing together bankers engaged in providing advice on trade finance solutions to its customer base.
TFAB provides an environment for Trade Practitioners representing all banks to facilitate the exchange of views relating to trade, promote consistency in Trade Finance practices and to create the required skill set in the industry in supporting Trade.
Chief Manager – Heads of Exports at Commercial Bank Lawrian Somanader, was unanimously elected as the President of the Association for the second consecutive year. He is a Certified Trade Finance Professional (CTPF) from International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Paris with over 30 years of banking experience that includes 28 years in International Trade related services Imports and Exports at Commercial Bank.
The newly appointed President said that despite the current economic crisis and the highly volatile exchange rate, International Trade will continue to grow in importance as businesses and banks view this segment as the key contributor to their overall performance. He further stated that the knowledge imparted by the TFAB by way of trade seminars, workshops, quiz competitions, trainings and knowledge forums to its membership was commendable.
The following members were elected
President – Lawrian Somanader – Chief Manager, Exports, Commercial Bank
Senior Vice President- Rochelle Fernando – Assistant General Manager – Trade Services – Bank of Ceylon
Vice President- Shyam De Silva – Senior Manager Operations, Centralized TradeProcessing- Hatton National Bank
Secretary General- K.R. Naguleswaran- Assistant Vice President, Correspondent Banking and Remittances- DFCC Bank
Treasurer-Kasun Muthukuda – Manager, Trade Services – Nations Trust Bank
Assistant Secretary-Indika Liyanage-Senior Manager, Trade Services- PanAsiaBanking Corporation
Assistant Treasurer- Kanchana De Silva – Senior Manager – Trade Operations – Union Bank of Colombo
Council Members: Gaya Manamperi (Formerly at Sampath Bank ), Manjula Gunawardana (NDB Bank), Susantha Weerasinghe (People’s Bank), Tharinda Amarasinghe (Sampath Bank), Niranjan Dabare (Deutsche Bank), K.K. Susantha (Bank of Ceylon), Halin Hettigoda (Sampath Bank PLC), Shaariz Zabith (The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited), Dilan Wijegoonawardhana (Seylan Bank), Shehani Peter (Standard Chartered Bank), Eranda Weerakoon (Doha Bank), Harsha Silva (Citi Bank N.A.), Mahesha Hassan (Public Bank)
Immediate Past President: A. S. M. W. Kumarasiri (Assistant General Manager, Trade Finance, People’s Bank)
