Experienced chartered accountant Tishan Subasinghe, fintech entrepreneur Omar Kassim, legal luminary Mohamed Adamaly and Islamic finance legal professional Paul Mercer recently joined the Board of Directors of Amãna Bank.
The appointment of Omar Kassim is in the interest of the Bank’s former Chairman Osman Kassim, who retired after completing the maximum 9 year period of directorship of a Licensed Commercial Bank as per CBSL directions, but continues to be amongst the top 10 shareholders of the Bank. Tishan Subsasinghe replaces retired senior director Jazri Magdon Ismail who also retired after completing the regulatory 9 year period while Mohamed Adamaly was appointed as the replacement to Harsha Amarasekera PC who resigned from the Board in the beginning of 2020 in lieu of his imminent retirement having served the board since its inception. Paul Mercer’s appointment fills the vacant position of the second nominee director from ICD, the Bank’s strategic shareholder. While Tishan Subasinghe will function as a Non-Executive Independent Director, the trio of Omar Kassim, Mohamed Adamaly and Paul Mercer will serve as Non-Executive Non-Independent Directors.
Commenting on their appointment the Bank’s Chairman Asgi Akbarally said “We are honoured to have our Board of Directors strengthened by four versatile directors in Tishan Subasinghe, Omar Kassim, Mohamed Adamaly and Paul Mercer. Their collective experience and business insight will be of valuable benefit in guiding the Bank towards achieving its strategic goals.”
Tishan Harendranath Subasinghe, is a Fellow and Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) and the Managing Director and Joint Managing Partner of Moore Stephens Consulting (Private) Limited and Moore Stephens Aiyar respectively. Before that he was the Head of Audit and Assurance at BDO Partners. He is also the Chairman of Sanasa General Insurance Company Limited and is also a Council Member of the University of Moratuwa. His profession also expands overseas where he had work experience with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Botswana spanning several years. These were supported by the international training that he has undergone in USA, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Malaysia, Indonesia and Rome. As a member of CA Sri Lanka, Tishan has served as the Chairman of the Annual Report Awards Committee, National Conference Committee and Examinations Committee. He also held the post of Vice President of the Young Chartered Accountants Forum (YCAF). Tishan is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA-USA) and has an MBA in Finance by the University of Colombo with a Gold Medal and has earned an LLB (Hons.) degree from the Buckinghamshire New University. He is also a visiting lecturer at several Government Universities and had also conducted international training in Maldives and Bhutan.
Omar Kassim is a fintech focused technology entrepreneur, who specialises in conceiving, building, and exiting interesting technology ventures. Omar is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nomod, a London headquartered startup building a highly efficient, scalable, business banking platform to empower millions of entrepreneurs and startups around the world to start and grow their businesses with inventive payment and banking tools. Omar also Co-Founded and was the Chief Executive Officer of Esanjo, a trading, investment, and technology business based in Dubai, where he remains a member of the Board. Omar previously founded and exited JadoPado, a highly regarded e-commerce technology platform addressing the Middle East, North African, and South Asia. Omar holds a BsC in Electronics Engineering and Business Studies from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom.
Mohamed Adamaly is a leading legal professional in Sri Lanka having a wide Civil Law practice in the Original Courts and Appellate Courts, with a focus on Commercial Law, Labour Law, Insurance Law, and Banking & Credit related laws. Adamaly also specializes in Investment Advisory, Business Set-up/Restructuring Services and Corporate Acquisitions. Adamaly graduated from the Faculty of Law University of Colombo with Honours while also achieving First Class Honours from the Sri Lanka Law College before being admitted as an Attorney-at-law of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1994. Adamaly has served as a visiting lecture at the University of Colombo and at the Sri Lanka Law College. He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM UK) and is a leading lecture for CIM and formerly for CIMA, in Sri Lanka. Due to his vast legal expertise coupled with his business acumen, Adamaly holds and has held directorships in several public and private companies including in the David Peiris Group, Bogala Graphite Lanka PLC, Assetline Leasing Company Limited and Sinwa Holdings Limited. Adamaly is also a leading thespian in the country and has received the National TOYP Award for his contribution to Drama and Literature.
Paul Mercer is an English law qualified lawyer with over 20 years of experience working in banking, particularly in Islamic Finance. Paul has extensive experience in corporate governance and has used his skills and experience as a Director on a number of boards representing the Kuwait Finance House Group. Paul was the Chairman of Bahrain Investment Bank, Ibdar Bank, and as Chairman of the Board, he oversaw a three-way bank merger involving Elaf Bank, Capital Management House and Capivest. In recent years Paul has been actively engaged on Islamic Banking regulation in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the implementation of capital and governance requirements. While working as a lawyer in private practice and as in-house legal counsel at Kuwait Finance House (Bahrain), Paul has advised on a full range of legal issues relating to Islamic Finance and helped in the preparation of transactional documentation designed to comply with Islamic Law. Paul is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is registered as an arbitrator on the GCC Commercial Arbitration Centre Roster of Arbitrators.
With the recent appointments Amãna Bank Board of Directors constitute as follows : Ali Asghar (Asgi) Akbarally (Chairman), Rajiv Nandlal Dvivedi, Pradeep Dilshan Rajeeva Hettiaratchi, Aaron Russell-Davison, Mohammed Ataur Rahman Chowdhury, Syed Muhammed Asim Raza, Khairul Muzamel Perera bin Abdullah, Tishan Harendranath Subasinghe, Omar Kassim, Mohamed Adamaly and Paul Mercer. Retired directors Osman Kassim, Tyeab Akbarally, Harsha Amarasekera and Jazri Magdon Ismail will continue to serve as trustees on the Bank’s unique flagship CSR venture, ‘OrphanCare’ Trust.
Amana Bank PLC is a stand-alone institution licensed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange with Jeddah based IsDB Group being the principal shareholder having a 29.97% shareholding of the Bank. The IsDB Group is a ‘AAA’ rated (S&P, Moody’s & Fitch) multilateral development financial institution with a membership of 57 countries. In June 2020 Fitch Ratings Sri Lanka declared an upward revision of the National Long Term Rating of Amãna Bank to BB+(lka) with a Stable Outlook. Amãna Bank does not have any subsidiaries, associates or affiliated institutions, other than the ‘OrphanCare’ Trust.