ETF undergoes technology re-orientation

The Employees Trust Fund (ETF) is undergoing a re- orientation in its operations through a modern technological strategy to be compatible with the current socio- economic environment, Chairman of the Board Mahinda Madihahewa said.

He said a project to streamline the operations of ETF under this new IT strategy was launched at its headquarters in Colombo this week.

The new strategy is aimed at providing a more productive service to members ( private sector employees) of the fund, he disclosed, adding that over 2.6 million members receive benefits from this fund.

Under this initiative, the Inspection System Application alias EISA Project has been introduced by the ETF. EISA ( Extended Industry Standard Architecture) is a standard computer interconnection architecture which is used to stream line operational functions of IT systems. Inspection of ETF accounts of its member would be made easy under with the implementation of EISA project, he said.

Manual operations in handling files of ETF members will be halted with the implementation of the new system; he said adding that this would result in a complete overhaul of the present process. Financial assistance and consultancy support have been received from the Finance Ministry and the International Labour Organization to implant the project, he revealed.

Secretary to the Media M i n i s t r y D r. R.H.S. Samaratunge said that it is a difficult task for the public sector to maintain a social security network. It is difficult not only for Sri Lanka but for any other country to do so. But when considering the background in which Sri Lanka is traversing, it is not possible for any single party to maintain such a network, he added. There is a need for everyone to integrate themselves with the social security system, he pointed out adding that plans are underway to increase the ETF value to Rs. 275 billion from current Rs.250 billion by adding more employers to the current contributors numbering 79,600.