News

Sri Lanka intros pension plan ATMs

Employee Provident Fund participants can see their balance and ascertain whether their employer has made required deposits.

May 7, 2015

Nearly 2.5 million members of Sri Lanka's Employment Provident Fund can now check the balance of their retirement account at a specially programmed ATM at the country's Labor Secretariat.

According to a report by the Daily Mirror in Sri Lanka, the labor ministry plans to install more than 30 of these machines at its offices to serve members.

The machines, which are to be available 24/7/365, require an accountholder's fingerprint as identification. Once account access has been granted, members may check their account balance and ascertain whether their employer has made the required monthly deposit to the account.

The EPF is the largest social security scheme in Sri Lanka. Employees and employers are required to make respective monthly contributions of 8 and 12 percent of wages. Up to three-quarters of an EPF balance may be used as security for a home loan.