Employees can make their own investment choice once they have access to their DEWS online account. Investments can be viewed and changed by visiting the ‘Fund’ area and clicking ‘Manage my investments’.

Employees can either choose to invest wholly in one option or make their own combination by assigning different percentages to multiple options. Once the percentage shows as 100% the investment change can be submitted.

Employees are reminded that investment changes will apply to the full accumulated balance and any contributions received going forward.

For employers, the only fees incurred will be the bank charges applied by their bank to send the monthly contribution payment to DEWS.

Employees are subject to an annual percentage-based fee which is designed to be fair and equitable to all members, regardless of seniority or salary. The fees vary depending on which investment option, or combination thereof, that an employee selects. For the latest fee information, we would encourage employees to check the individual fund factsheets which are updated monthly and held in the DEWS online portal. Fees are built into the unit price of the underlying funds for each investment option and are deducted proportionately daily, so when employees refresh their valuation on the online portal, fees have already been taken into consideration.

Employees will also be subject to a bank charge when withdrawing their benefits upon leaving service (or when withdrawing in service if the employee is making additional voluntary contributions and choose to withdraw from this).

Within DEWS currently there are 10 investment options as follows:

The default option is the Low/Moderate Growth option (some employees may be excluded). The default has been chosen by the Trustee, under advisement of their appointed investment adviser, Mercer. The Low / Moderate Growth option has been selected as the default by the Trustee, under advisement of their appointed investment advisor, Mercer. You should be aware that:

• The underlying fund will aim to pursue a balanced investment strategy with exposure to a range of both defensive and growth assets.
• It may fluctuate in value and is designed for longer term investments. You should be prepared to stay invested for at least 5 years.
• You can switch your investment without charge at any time or take a withdrawal (sell your investment units) if you have left service/made voluntary contributions, or you may choose to hold the investment for longer depending on your preferences and objectives.

All contributions made into the plan will be invested in the default option unless employees make an active investment decision.

A capital protection bank account option will also be made available for those Dubai Government employees who do not wish to take any investment risk. This will be the default option for some employees as determined by the Government of Dubai. The capital protection bank account option will ensure that the member’s value will not reduce at any time (net of fees).

All investment options are denominated in USD.

Further details in respect of the investment options, including performance, objectives and target returns, can be found on our website or in the DEWS online portal.

No. Whilst the providers can set out in a factual way the investment options available to enable employees to make an informed decision, we are not permitted to provide any employees with investment advice, and we would always encourage employees to seek this independently if required.

Mercer provides investment advice to Equiom, the Master Trustee, relating to the range of investment options that are made available through the DEWS plan. 

An employee can view their daily account value through the DEWS online portal or app.

Employees can also track performance at the underlying fund level by using our Fund Centre tool under investments.