Smart card for EPF members

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members will be issued a Smart card to facilitate future transactions.

This is in keeping with plans to enable the fund to operate as a paperless system.

The EPF will function as efficiently as the banking system where it will enable the members to obtain information by sending a short message (SMS) and could act as an e-money system.

Measures are under way to re-register the current membership to ensure smooth functioning of the fund and to maintain a properly updated data base, Central Bank of Sri Lanka EPF Department Deputy Superintendent A G U Thilakarathna said.

The EPF which is the largest social security network in Sri Lanka has attracted Rs 850 billion from its current contributing active membership of 2.1 million members.

The Fund provides a variety of benefits for its members and offers an interest rate higher than the average market rates, he said.

A seminar on EPF payments and benefits organized by Small and Medium Enterprise Developers (SMED) in collaboration with the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sri Lanka was held in Colombo yesterday.

"We strive to provide maximum retirement benefits to our members through prudent and innovative fund management.

"The fund aims to assure financial stability for its members after their retirement. We have a five-year plan to streamline the activities to make it user friendly and efficient," he said.

The updating of new member registration is taking place at present. The network will be linked to all Regional Labour Department office for easy access.

"All EPF members will be re-registered and the National Identity Card number will be the unique identification number in future transactions.

"This member centric number will enable convenient integration of multiple accounts giving members easy access to their fund information," Thilakarathna said.