July 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka Supreme Court has upheld Central Bank's direction on corporate governance for banks which sets out limits on age, length of service and number of directorships held.

It is reported that the Court has taken this decision by considering a case filed by Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman Lalith Kotelawala against the Central Bank which recently published a mandatory code of corporate governance in relation to licensed commercial banks while questioning Ceylinco chief’s ability to hold the position of Chairman and the post of Director at Seylan Bank.

According to CB sources, with the new guidelines, in the event a person has held the post of Director in a commercial bank for more than 9 years, if his age is over 70 years, and if the person is directing more than 20 companies his ability to continue as a Director gets cancelled.