Veteran development banker Mr. Prasanna Premaratne has been appointed the Chairman of South Asia Partnership – Sri Lanka (SAPSRI) in October 2019, succeeding Mr. Lakshman Hettiaratchi. Mr. Premaratne has been a Board Member of SAPSRI since 2006 and has served the organization for the past fourteen years.
Mr. Prasanna Premaratna commenced his professional career as a planter at Pelwatte Sugar Industries (PSI) in 1984 and was one of the pioneer members of the management team of PSI. Thereafter, Mr. Premaratne’s banking career was launched when he joined the DFCC Bank in 1991 as a Development Banker. His career with DFCC spanned more than 24 years; he held many key managerial positions in various functions and was specifically involved in financing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and Project financing at DFCC Bank. After he retired from the DFCC Bank, he was appointed as the Chairman of the state-owned Regional Development Bank (RDB) in 2015 and served until April 2018. Subsequently, he was invited to join the Board of SANASA Development Bank as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
Mr. Premaratne holds an M.Sc. in Agriculture from the USSR a Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) in Bank Management (IBSL), and a PGD in International Relations from the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies. He is also a life member of the Association of Professional Bankers of Sri Lanka.