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Halloween is almost here. Pumpkins are being carved, offices are being decorated with tasteful cobwebs (and bowls of sweets that vanish by 10 a.m.), and somewhere a colleague is planning an unconvincing vampire costume. But for HR and Finance managers, the truly terrifying things don't come with fake Dracula teeth. They come with a ministry circular, a spreadsheet and a CEO who starts a sentence with “quick question…”. So, in the spirit of the season, we've gathered four nigh

It's budget season again. Finance is collecting submissions, and every department, HR included, is being asked to put numbers against next year's plans and defend them. So before your 2027 budget is locked, here is a question worth asking: have you set aside anything for the move to the End of Service Benefit (EOSB) savings scheme? What 2027 will (and won't) bring The alternative EOSB savings scheme is still voluntary, and we don't expect it to become compulsory next year. A

National Bonds Corporation launched in 2006 with a mandate to build a savings culture in the UAE, and it's wholly owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai — the Dubai government's sovereign investment arm

Back in June we took stock of the End of Service Benefit (EOSB) savings market in our Summer 2026 update. Three months on, what has changed? The short version is: not much, but a few interesting new details have emerged that are worth highlighting. Here is where things stand at the end of Q3. EOSB Providers: still 4 live, 2 in the starting block The line-up of MOHRE-approved fund managers is unchanged: Daman Investments, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Lunate (Ghaf Benefits) and

Lunate is a different kind of entrant to this market. Rather than a bank offering EOSB to its client base in addition to many other financial products, it's a dedicated asset manager that built a purpose-made platform, branded "Ghaf Benefits", specifically for UAE's new EOSB scheme. The pitch is straightforward: a large, well-capitalised investment house lending its fund management muscle to gratuity savings, with more fund choice on offer than most of its peers.

Some time ago, we wrote about how the new EOSB savings scheme is quietly reshaping salary-transfer lending in the UAE. Since then, we have received a lot of correspondance with a related but different question from HR and finance teams: "if the bank can no longer treat EOSB as collateral, can we, the employer, still net off what an employee owes us against their gratuity?" The answer is a genuine "it depends" — and getting it wrong could put an employer in breach of two separ

This is the second article in our series profiling the licensed providers of the UAE's alternative End of Service Benefit (EOSB) savings scheme — one Fund Manager at a time, in alphabetical order.

Daman Investments has a fair claim to the title of “first mover” in this market. Alongside Lunate (which we will profile later), Daman Investments was one of the first two providers to win CMA approval to manage EOSB savings funds, back in July 2024 — and it's been building the fund infrastructure ever since. So, who is Daman Investments, and what do they offer?

Whilst the alternative End of Service Benefit (EOSB) saving scheme is fairly new in the UAE mainland, a similar scheme exists already in the UAE - and it has been running already for more than five years: The DIFC Employee Workplace Saving scheme, or DEWS in short. We have covered DEWS already in an earlier article. Today, as the DEWS annual report for 2025 has been recently released, we drill down what lessons can be learnt for UAE companies that are looking to adopt the new

The UAE’s EOSB transition should not be treated as a narrow HR decision. It is a strategic opportunity to improve cost visibility, build employee trust and rethink long-term benefits. The winners will be the employers who model the financial impact carefully, communicate the change honestly, invest in their employees' financial literacy, and use the reform as a platform to modernise their wider reward strategy.

Franklin Templeton obtained CMA license to manage funds. This enables them to offer retirement solutions, including End of Service schemes.

New EOSB Saving schemes: The End of Salary loans?

Eighteen months into the UAE’s Alternative End-of-Service Benefits (EOSB) Savings Scheme, the market has clearly moved from “interesting policy idea” to “operational reality”. Employers can now sign up, employees can be enrolled, and contributions can actually flow into licensed investment funds. But how mature is the supply side really? Let’s take stock! The supply side: from concept to crowded pipeline When the scheme was first announced, sceptics wondered whether enough cr

Sukoon Secures Fund Administration License to Offer EOSB Saving Schemes

The UAE’s voluntary Alternative End-of-Service Benefits (EOSB) Savings Scheme, established under Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2023, has redefined how gratuity is funded and administered in the private sector. Rather than accruing as an unfunded liability on the employer’s balance sheet, monthly contributions are now channelled into regulated investment funds held on behalf of employees. And it’s the employees themselves who choose which fund their investments are paid into. H

The DIFC introduced a workplace savings programme already over five years ago, replacing the old EOSB gratuity with a new savings-based system. With five years of experience under the belt, what can we learn from the DIFC's experience?

New UAE EOSB scheme: The 5 Key Differences explained

How to Present the UAE’s EOSB Reform to Your CEO and the Board

Dubai, UAE: Daman Investments (PSC), a leading asset manager in the UAE, has signed an MoU with Allianz Global Investors (“AllianzGI”), one of the world’s leading active asset managers, to collaborate on offering risk-based investment options as part of the MOHRE-approved Daman Investments End-of-Service Program. This initiative will expand the existing program, which currently provides a capital-protected savings solution for end-of-service benefits, by introducing addition

A Change Management Guide for HR for introducing the new EOSB saving scheme