W Tennekoon (1967 – 1971)

Mr. William Tennekoon was the fifth Governor, assuming duties in August 1967 and vacating his position in May 1971.

Mr. W Tennekoon studied at St. Anthony’s College and Trinity College Kandy. He completed his university education in Economics from the Ceylon University College and started his career as a visiting lecturer at the Economics Department of the same university in 1938. 

Mr. Tennekoon in 1939 proceeded to work in the banking sector, functioning as an accountant at the Bank of Ceylon and subsequently becoming Manager at its Head Office. His career as a central banker started in 1950, when he was appointed as the first Chief Accountant of the Central Bank and functioned as Head of the Banking and Currency Department. He then became the Director of the Bank Supervision Department. During his career at the Central Bank he was seconded to the IMF (1953 and 1962) and the World Bank (1954). He successfully moved upwards in the path of central banking and was appointed as Deputy Governor in 1957, Senior Deputy Governor in 1964 and was finally appointed as the Governor in 1967. 

After his career in central banking, Mr. Tennekoon went on to become Executive Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In 1973 he became Advisor to the Chairman and Directors of Hatton National Bank and served as Chairman of the Development Finance Corporation of Ceylon from 1974. Mr. Tennekoon was appointed as Director to several private companies including the Hatton National Bank Ltd.