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| Monday, 9 August 2004 |
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Edgar completes 50 years as banker Edgar Gunatunga, the veteran banker and Chairman of Sampath Bank celebrates fifty years in active banking on August 13, a rare achievement perhaps unparalleled anywhere. He began his career in 1954 as a junior clerk in the then Eastern Bank. Within a few years, he had gone to London and secured a place as a trainee at the head offices of the Eastern Bank where he received an invaluable training and experience in the city, the then financial capital of the world.
In the late sixties the Colombo office of the Eastern Bank transformed itself into the newly incorporated Commercial Bank of Ceylon. Gunatunga served with distinction in various positions with rapidly increasing responsibilities. From being the first Manager of the Jaffna branch he rose to becoming a Senior Manager, the Accountant, Deputy General Manager and finally succeeding the late Sanath Chandraratne as Chief Executive and Managing Director. Growth and profitability figures at Commercial Bank under his stewardship speak for themselves. Gunatunga was mistaken if he thought he was going to enjoy a quiet life upon his retirement from Commercial Bank. Under pressure from the Central Bank and the institutional investors he was persuaded in 1992 to take over as Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of the then troubled Sampath Bank. His enormous skills born of vast experience helped turn the Bank around. Customer confidence and profitability grew slowly but surely. So did the bank's performance in the stock markets. This was another water mark of Gunatunga's distinguished career in banking. From 1998 to-date he has been functioning as Chairman of Sampath Bank. Gunatunga served as Chairman of Sri Lanka Bankers' Association and President of the Bankers' Club is a popular and outgoing personality. He is equally as home in the company of business persons, bankers, politicians or sports persons. He has never lost the common touch. Therein lay his strength. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of men and matters, besides of business and market intelligence. His sixth sense enabled him both to build up entrepreneurs and also to strengthen the lending portfolios of the banks he managed. It is this strength that he brings into the board rooms of several companies on which he serves as Director and Chairman. Fifty years on and still a practising banker Edgar is a man for all seasons. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Six years on Gunatunga was back in the Colombo office of the Eastern
Bank now as a covenanted officer.
