UAE EOSB Roundup: Q3 2026
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 National Bonds.
Two more names are waiting in the wings, with further details on their offering yet to be published: Franklin Templeton obtained its CMA licence, and Emirates NBD appears on the CMA’s register of end-of-service gratuity savings funds, but there is no further information on launch timing or terms.
Funds: No new launches this quarter, but more details emerge
No further EOSB funds were released in Q3. Capital-protected options are available from every live provider. Ghaf Benefits remains the only provider with a a choice of additional risk-based funds on the market. The balanced and growth funds announced by FAB and Daman are still announced rather than launched.
The one real piece of news is from FAB, which has published the prospectuses for its two capital-protected EOSB funds, one conventional and one Shariah-compliant. It is welcome transparency as the fund prospectus lays out all the details how the fund is structured, what charges apply, and other important facts such as how the funds are managed. For example, FAB discloses that the management fee is capped at 0.30% a year, and protection comes from a reserve built up over time rather than a hard guarantee. FAB also now allows eligible individuals to invest in the capital-protected strategy directly, without their employer being enrolled in the scheme.
We hope the other providers follow this practice, so that funds can be compared like for like.
What DEWS returns tell us
While the mainland market waits for more risk-based funds, the DIFC’s DEWS scheme, now more than five years old, shows how such funds behaved this year. Let's have a look at the fund returns for the first 9 months of 2026: (Note, We will cover the second official DIFC scheme - GO SAVER - in a later article.)
It has been a great year for equity investors. The HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index fund is up +15.25%, and the growth-oriented portfolios are all in the 9% to 10% range. Savers who stayed invested can be happy.
But savers need to stay on their guard. The spread between best and worst is wide. At the bottom, the Franklin Global Sukuk fund is down 2.71% this year. Several conservative options returned only 0.5% to 2%. Once you deduct charges, and then inflation, the real bottom line for these funds is often flat or even negative. The money may be safe, but it is not growing.
This, of course, is also big lesson to bear in mind when choosing EOSB funds for the Mainland Schemes, a point we made earlier when reviewing the DEWS 2025 annual report,
Conclusion: Where does the EOSB market stand at the end of Q3 2026?
In summary the state of the EOSB saving scheme market is as follows:
Providers: the line-up is unchanged. Four have launched, and two (Franklin Templeton and Emirates NBD) are in the starting blocks.
Funds: the choice is evolving, with more expected in the near future, particularly risk-based funds from FAB and Daman. More fund details are being disclosed, which helps transparency.
What does that mean for UAE employers looking at EOSB schemes? The choice whether to sign up to the new scheme is still voluntary - and the trade-off is clear. There is a good choice available now, but it is also clear that more is yet to come.
We will keep tracking EOSB providers and their offering. Our Fund Managers and Funds pages are updated as soon as there is news.
