Central Bank safest place for EPF, ETF - Mahendran

... but no objection to funds being moved elsewhere

by Zacki Jabbar-November 11, 2015, 10:27 pm 

Insisting that the Central Bank was the safest place to keep Employees Provident and Trust Funds, Governor of the Bank Arjuna Mahendran said yesterday he had no objections to the monies being moved elsewhere.

He told The Island that according to the law both Funds came under the Labour Ministry and that was its logical place. "It was in the 1950s that the Labour Department handed over EPF monies to be managed by the Central Bank. If the government now wants to move the Funds to another body, there is no objection on our part."

Asked whether the proposed Public Trust would come under the Labour or Finance Ministry, Mahendran said the possibility was the latter, but it would be better to wait until the budget was presented to get a clearer picture.

The Central Bank Governor emphasised that he did not agree with Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva, who told a news conference in Colombo on Monday that EPF and ETF funds would have more security if placed under a different body.

"I think the Central Bank is the most secure and safest place for both funds. Its members have also got good returns over the years in comparison to what most secure institutions could offer," he noted, adding that Harsha de Silva was correct with regard to the conflict of interest that arose when the Central Bank not only managed EPF and ETF monies but also invested them in banks which came under its purview.