Falcon Private Bank, the Swiss firm owned by Abu Dhabi's Aabar Investments, is considering launching pension schemes for the UAE’s burgeoning population of expat workers - now estimated to number some seven million.

Falcon already offers schemes which allow both employers and employees to pay into pension plans in other markets and is currently researching what the requirements would be to do the same in the UAE.

“We’ve been operating international retirement solutions or plans for over two decades within other markets,” Damian Hitchen, director and relationship manager at Falcon’s Dubai office, was quoted as having said in an interview with Arabian Business.

“It is at the research and development stage. We are researching what the requirements will be here locally and we will tailor our proposition. How long that will take, we do not know right now.”

Expatriate pension arrangements in the UAE are somewhat complex and are now in the process of being reformed to allow employers to pay a proportion of their workers’ annual salaries into a fund. If they go ahead, the reforms could mean the end of a 40-year gratuity scheme that requires firms to provide end-of-service payouts to staff which are calculated on the length of their contract and basic salary.