Spanning a New Frontier With ETFs

Upon any new frontier, the possibilities for growth and prosperity are endless, so investors might be taking a liking to the new frontier exchange traded funds (ETFs) that take the "emerging markets" concept even further.

Frontier countries are countries that are less developed than traditional emerging markets, reports David Hoffman for Investment News. An example of frontier countries can be found in the latest ETF from Claymore, the Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets ETF (FRN) which gives access to 41 economically  "newborn" countries such as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Ghana, Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Pakistan, to name a few.

Poland is the most heavily weighted country in the fund, containing 24.9% of assets. Chile is second, with 21% of assets. As countries grow and change and move from "frontier" to "developed," the index will shift accordingly.

PowerShares, Van Eck, and WisdomTree all have frontier ETFs in the making. Emerging markets like China and Brazil are becoming more correlated with developed markets. As a result, it makes sense to move to the next level and give investors even more opportunities to broaden their horizons.

As emerging markets become more developed, it certainly makes sense that frontier markets should be included in the mix.