Nihal Fonseka is a retired banker and served as the Chief Executive Officer of DFCC Bank from 2000 until 2013. Prior to joining the DFCC Bank, he was the Deputy Chief Executive of HSBC Sri Lanka. He was the Senior Independent Director of John Keells Holdings PLC for 10 years until June 2024, Sri Lanka's largest public listed conglomerate with a market capitalisation of over USD 1 billion.

He is a Member of the Governing Board and Monetary Policy Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka since July 2022 after having served as a Member of the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka from 2016 to 2020. Currently, he is alsoaDirector and Chairman of the Group Audit Committee of Brandix Lanka Limited, one of the largest apparel exporters in Sri Lanka supplying global brands with manufacturing operations in 5 countries. He is also the Chairman of Phoenix Industries Limited and an Independent Director and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Phoenix Ventures Limited, He was the President of the Sri Lanka National Advisory Council of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, UK, from 2011 to 2021.

Mr. Fonseka was a past Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (ADFIAP). He has also held non-executive public sector positions as a Director of the Employees' Trust Fund Board, and as member of the Presidential Commission on Taxation (2009), National Procurement Commission and Strategic Enterprises Management Agency (SEMA).
He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Ceylon, Colombo and is a Fellow of the Institute of Financial Studies, (FIB) UK and is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments, FCSI(Hon), UK.