A recently retired senior manager of a state-owned bank is likely to be named tomorrow as the managing agent of The Finance Co. plc (TFC), one of the lynchpins of the deeply troubled Ceylinco-Seylan Group, well informed sources said yesterday.

They said that this executive who served as a deputy general manager of a state-owened commercial bank and served the private sector post-retirement retired fairly recently.

Earlier, a former GM of the National Savings Bank, Mr. Eastman Narangoda, was appointed Chairman of the Seylan Bank plc. after its management was vested in the Bank of Ceylon.

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal will chair a news briefing on Monday afternoon where details on the operation of TFC and the involvement in its affairs of the four-member expert group named by the bank in connection with the implementation of a ``stimulus package and intervention to stabilize registered finance companies of the Ceylinco Group’’ will be disclosed.

This expert group comprises Messrs. Nishan Fernando, Chartered Accountant, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka;

Arittha Wikramanayake, Attorney-at-Law, Precedent Partner, Nithya Partners and former Director General of the Securities & Exchange Commission; H M Hennayake Bandara, Chartered Accountant, President of the Association of Accounting Technicians of Sri Lanka and Additional General Manager, National Savings Bank and Ajith Devasurendra, Former President, Primary Dealers’ Association and Deputy Chairman, Browns Group of Companies.

According to TFC’s interim report for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2008, the company’s net profit was down to Rs. 15.3 million from Rs. 333.4 million a year earlier.

The Monetary Board has already suspended the directors of TFC from executive functions, well informed sources said yesterday adding they would be permitted to remain on the board of the company.

Three Ceylinco companies including TFC had notified the Colombo Stock Exchange of the remanding of Mr. Lalith Kotelawela by order of the Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court and said that Kotelawela who will take ``suitable legal action’’ remainsas Chairman and Managing Director of the TFC.

Whether this will change with the appointment of the managing agent remains to be seen, analysts said. Indications were that the regulator authorities wanted to retain four directors of TFC without permiting them to exercise executive functions.

The other two companies, by their letters of Feb. 27 published by the CSE earlier this months, that communicated Kotelawela’s remanding are Blue Diamonds Jewellery Worldwide plc. And Ceylinco Insurance plc. Blue Diamonds said that Kotelawela remains chairman of the company while Ceylinco Insurance said he remains Chairman/MD.

Meanwhile the CSE has also been notified that two Ceylinco Insurance directors, Messrs. S. Ratnadas and A.D. Jegasothy has resigned with effect from Mar. 1 and Mrs. Amali. K. Seneviratne has resigned with effect from April 30.

Earlier the company named Messers. Ajith Gunawardena and R. Renganathan as its Joint Deputy Chairmen from Feb. 27