To answer the original question, there are actually two other options for someone leaving. I forget the exact wording on them. I think one was for pilots who officially retire. They can leave the money in the Provident Fund and let it ride. Another was to have it sent to a financial account other than a bank, i.e. an investment account anywhere of your choosing.
The process was fairly smooth and easy. To control the sales price you might want to sell to cash within a month or so of giving your notice, because there comes a point when you are no longer allowed to make switches.
I chose the wire transfer to bank of my choice option, and it came as advertised.
Now, as for some of the discussion on fund performance. I joined at the market nadir in the early 2000s. Quite fortuitous really. My average rate of return for the time I was at Emirates was good, but only because I actively managed the funds myself based on sound investing principles and slightly aggressive strategy. I did not, and would not, recommend Mondial. I have heard their advice and, if followed, would have resulted in far far worse rates of return than one can obtain by other methods. I did watch the ECAM blog:
http://emiratescapitalassetmanagement.********.tw/
But I made some moves different than ECAM based on the S&P 500 and DAX exponential moving averages. Selling to high percentages of cash when their were moves below the 200 day and buying back to high percentages of equities when there were confirmed moves back above the 50 day. That kind of a strategy might result in 2-3 changes in asset allocation per year.
Typhoonpilot