Preeni Manjula Dunuwille Koralege joined Varners in July 2025, bringing more than 35 years of experience as an Attorney-at-Law, including over 25 years in the Banking and Finance sector and more than 17 years in senior corporate management. She was called to the Bar in 1988 and has built a distinguished career spanning private practice, banking, financial services, corporate advisory, compliance, governance, company secretarial work, and litigation.

Current Practice

At Varners, Preeni is a member of the Banking & Finance and the Corporate & Commercial practices, advising corporate and private clients on a broad range of banking, finance, commercial, and regulatory matters. Her practice includes corporate lending, credit and security documentation, mergers and acquisitions, banking transactions, recoveries, litigation, regulatory compliance, and corporate governance.

Drawing on extensive in-house and banking experience, she advises on the structuring, review, and negotiation of loan and security documentation for local and cross-border transactions, including mortgage bonds, guarantees, and other forms of security. She also advises on banking operations, regulatory requirements, shareholder and capital-related matters, IT and commercial agreements, and the development of governance policies and procedures.

Preeni brings particular expertise in the establishment and licensing of commercial banks and in Islamic banking. She has hands-on experience in capital raising, shareholder arrangements, regulatory compliance, banking documentation, and operational frameworks, and has developed documentation for a wide range of Islamic banking products and services.

She is also an experienced Company Secretary, having served in that capacity for a bank as well as several listed companies, private companies, and companies limited by guarantee.

Other Relevant Experience

Preeni began her career in 1988 at one of Sri Lanka’s oldest law firms, where she focused on corporate and commercial litigation before moving into the private sector. She later spent eight years with ABN AMRO Bank N.V., Colombo, specialising in Banking and Finance law.

She subsequently served as General Manager – Legal and Corporate at the Confifi Group, overseeing legal, company secretarial, and labour matters. From 2005 to 2009, she was Legal Advisor to the Board and Chief Compliance Officer of People’s Bank, where she advised on the bank’s recapitalisation under the Government’s Financial Sector Restructuring Program, corporate lending, compliance, and a broad range of legal matters.

She later joined Amana Investments Limited and played a key legal and compliance role in establishing Amana Bank PLC, Sri Lanka’s pioneering licensed commercial bank dedicated to Islamic banking, serving as Vice President – Legal, Compliance and Company Secretarial.