Mr. P.A. Lionel was appointed as a Board Member of HDFC Bank in September 2021. Mr. Lionel, former Senior Deputy General Manager, Bank of Ceylon. Joined BOC in 1983 as a Management Trainee after graduating from University of Colombo. He is a career banker with nearly 40 years’ experience in banking and financial services. He held the positions of senior Deputy General Manager, Treasury, Investment and International operation, Deputy General Manager, Human Resources and Deputy General Manager, Investment Banking, of Bank of Ceylon. He was the Chairman of the Investment Committee at Bank of Ceylon from 2011 to 2014.

He received broad experience and extensive training in Treasury Management and Forex dealing in London. He headed the Treasury of Bank of Ceylon Karachi 1998 and 2001. He was a member of the Credit Committee and Asset and Liability Management Committee for 10 years and specialized in cross border funding and cross selling of financial instruments. He has a 20 years’ experience in primary and secondary markets of government securities, and he held the position of CEO of the Primary Dealer Unit of BOC.

Under his leadership, BOC Treasury achieved several milestones. Two issuance of USD 500 million bonds each in 2012 and 2013, the first ever largest international bond issuance by a Sri Lankan bank. First ever USD debenture in Sri Lanka and largest debenture issue for a government institution (UDA) were also structured by him. During that period, he structured several large foreign currency syndicate Loans with several foreign banks to mobilize foreign funds to Sri Lanka.

Mr. Lionel joined the Corporate Management of National Savings Bank in the year 2015 after retirement from BOC and functioned as the Head of the Treasury and the Asset Management Division for three years. Under his guidance, Treasury and Forex activities of National Savings Bank were set up in the forex market.