Sri Lanka Central Bank Governor on AI-driven sustainable banking

The Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, P Nandalal Weerasinghe, urged banks to adopt AI and digitization to create sustainable value for the economy and society.

• Main announcement/action: The Governor called for accelerated adoption of AI and digitization across banking to enable predictive credit scoring, real-time fraud detection, AI-driven automation to reduce operational costs, and ESG evaluation to channel capital to green investments; he also emphasized upskilling management accountants from manual roles to strategic functions and noted digitization’s potential to reduce carbon footprint (less paper, travel, energy use).
• Background and details: The speech referenced the 2008 financial crisis as rationale for better risk assessment and explained concrete AI applications: alternative data (mobile usage, utility payments) for credit access to underserved populations, chatbots/voice-enabled platforms for remote access, and the need for governance addressing data privacy, algorithmic bias, and ethical use of AI.
  • Event details:
    • Date: 16 September 2025
    • Location: Colombo
    • Occasion: Inauguration of the CMA Sri Lanka Silver Jubilee International Management Accounting Conference
    • Subject/agenda: AI innovation and digitization in banking, upskilling management accountants, sustainable finance and ESG evaluation