Top academic to lead ComBank Board
Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC has announced the appointment of top academic Prof. A. K. W. Jayawardane as Chairman, and accomplished international investment banker Sharhan Muhseen as Deputy Chairman effective March 1, 2022.
Prof. Jayawardane, previously Deputy Chairman of the Bank, succeeds former Chief Justice K. Sripavan as Chairman following the completion of the latter’s term, while Muhseen fills the vacancy created by Prof. Jayawardane’s elevation to the position of Chairman, Sri Lanka’s largest private sector bank said.
Prof. Jayawardane, who has been an Independent Non-Executive Director of Commercial Bank since April 2015and Deputy Chairman since December 29,2020, is one of Sri Lanka’s most-respected senior academics in the field of engineering and is an academic administrator. He is currently the Chairman of CBC Tech Solutions, a subsidiary of Commercial Bank and the Chairman of the Board Tech Committee.
He obtained a BSc Eng Degree in Civil Engineering with first class honours from the University of Moratuwa, a Master of Science Degree in Construction from the Loughborough University of Technology UK and a PhD in Construction Management from the same university.
Sharhan Muhseen is a senior Investment Banker with extensive experience in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance and Capital Markets. He has served in a senior capacity working with company boards and senior leadership teams of financial institutions across Asia to help drive their Strategic Corporate Agendas and Roadmaps. He previously worked in best-in-class global investment banks, Credit Suisse, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan in leading regional coverage roles.
He was also an Associate Director of Deloitte.
Muhseen’s most immediate previous role was as Managing Director, Head of South East Asia Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and Head of Asia Insurance at Credit Suisse based in Singapore. In his Investment Banking career spanning over 20 years, Muhseen has completed landmark mergers and capital raising transactions in excess of USD 100 billion.
The Asia FIG sectors team at Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse has won the “FIG Asia House of the Year” awards from the Asset magazine for several years under his leadership. Multiple transactions he led have been awarded as best country deals and best financial sector capital raise transactions.
He holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Colombo, a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) from Western Michigan University and has completed the Corporate Finance training program with JPMorgan in New York.