Banking legend Priyantha Talwatte takes over as chief Executive Officer at SDB bank

A well respected and accomplished personality in the Banking industry, Priyantha Talwatte, has assumed duties as Chief Executive Officer at SDB bank, with effect from 23rd November 2022. Talwatte has 30 years of senior leadership experience with a track record of delivering sustainable stakeholder value. He was a pioneering senior leader shaping the ascend of Nations Trust Bank PLC (NTB) in Sri Lanka from a small size lender to a top banking powerhouse. He spent the last 20 years at NTB joining them as a corporate manager in 2002 and was the CEO/Director for the last two years.

During his 20 years at that bank, Mr. Talwatte spearheaded the launch of American Express Cards in Sri Lanka, building an enviable acceptance network that is the best in the region, among many other pioneering achievements. He developed segmented banking propositions and established a sales and service culture of the bank and expanded the NTB brand to become a top of the mind brand name in its effective target markets. Also he setup the banks 24×7 best in class contact centre, and a centre of excellence for collections and recovery. He led the banks analytics initiative and digital initiative to become one of the strongest digital banks in Sri Lanka and has extensive experience in developing credit underwriting and behaviour score card models and implementing risk ratings for effective risk management of diverse portfolios. During his tenure as CEO/Director at NTB, the bank transitioned to a fully in-house digital banking development environment providing a full stack of digital banking services on a micro services platform.

Mr.Talwatte is an alumnus of Harvard Business School (AMP) Boston USA and is a renowned speaker and trainer of leadership and Management Development.His vast experience in dealing with Corporate, SME and Retail clients and involvement in all aspect of banking services, building, and developing highly engaged work teams will support the SDB banks transformation to a New Age development bank.

SDB bank is a licensed specialized bank supervised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, listed on the Main Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange, with a Fitch Rating of BB+(lka) (Stable) and ICRA Rating (SL) BBB (Stable). A future-ready bank, providing holistic, 360-degree support to its customers, SDB bank is constantly catering to ever-changing needs, through a combination of financial support and value additions to life and business through mentorship and knowledge-sharing focusing on areas such value chain enhancements and financial management. SDB bank is also committed to a sustainable business model in terms of environmental, social and governance sustainability. This commitment is reflected in the Bank’s financing activities, giving preference to businesses and initiatives that take a sustainable approach, over those that do not. SDB bank has established itself as a financier that values every customer equally, for their potential and supports the development of individuals and SMEs with a special focus on women empowerment and the realization of the dream of digital inclusion for the masses.