Wake Up

Nov 03, 2011 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's banking regulator has urged bank directors to be more diligent and use their skills to ensure the health of their own institutions and that of the financial system. Central bank governor Nivard Cabraal said that although the economy was growing fast with the end of the island's 30-year ethnic war in 2009, global uncertainty made it tough to maintain the pace and stability.

"You must attend board meetings, you must be reading board papers, asking the right questions and ensure you use the knowledge you have been selected for," he told a bank directors’ symposium organised by the regulator.

"We need to see those skills being used at the banks themselves," he told the forum attended by around 200 chairmen, directors and chief executives of 33 licensed banks.

"We have to admit not all those skills are being used. We want to see them being made use of at the board room."

Cabraal said bank directors should closely monitor the work of their chief executive officers, get involved in preparing strategy and be more aware of their institutions' financial health.

"You should keep your CEOs on their toes, ask the tough and probing questions so they li