Arjuna Mahendran has been named by President Maithripala Sirisena, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Bloomberg said, citing the president’s media office. The Sri Lankan central bank website did not carry any announcement of the appointment that WealthBriefingAsia was able to find.

Mahendran succeeds Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who resigned a day after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 10-year rule ended on the 8 January presidential elections.

Mahendran headed Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment from 2002 to 2004 under Wickremesinghe, who was prime minister at that time. He was most recently chief investment officer at Emirates NBD Wealth Management and previously a managing director and chief investment strategist at HSBC Private Bank, the report said. He has also been an economist at Credit Suisse.