First Capital appoints Nishan Fernando to its Board

Top accounting professional Nishan Fernando, a past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA) has been appointed to the Board of First Capital Holdings PLC as a non-executive independent director.

Nishan Fernando

An announcement to the Colombo Stock Exchange by the financial solutions company said the appointment of Fernando, who counts more than 23 years of involvement in the field of accountancy, was effective 18th April 2012.

A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) of UK and holder of an MBA from the Postgraduate Institute of Management of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Fernando is the Head of Upstream Finance Operations at Goodhope (Carsons Group).

"The appointment of Nishan Fernando adds further depth to the Board of First Capital, as the company gears for growth," said Lalith de Mel, the Group's Chairman. "The experience he has gained from holding senior positions in several eminent professional bodies and his work in the corporate sector will be germane to our planned progression," he said.

In the course of an illustrious career, Fernando has served as Group Chief Financial Officer of ODEL PLC, as Chief Financial Officer at Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, and as Group Financial Controller of the Hemas Group.

He has officiated as Independent Director/Chairman Audit Committee of Browns Investments PLC, as President, Vice President and Council Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, as a Commission Member of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka, as a member of the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board, and since 2009 has functioned as Chairman of the Statutory Accounting Standards Committee which promulgates the Accounting Standards in Sri Lanka.

Fernando has also gained valuable experience from past positions as a member of the International Accounting Education Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and as a member of the Board and is currently a Technical Advisor to the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) whose Centre of Excellence for Standards and Quality he chaired in 2006 - 2008.

Fernando is the fourth high profile professional to be appointed to the First Capital PLC Board in the past year, joining Lalith de Mel who was appointed Chairman in October 2011, senior Chartered Accountant Minette Perera and marketing guru Eardley Perera.

First Capital Holdings PLC is a leading financial solutions provider in Sri Lanka, with an extensive product offering ranging from investments in treasury bills and bonds to margin trading, wealth management and corporate debt.