Africa could soon be a player within the exchange traded fund (ETF) market. Standard & Poor’s Indexes has launched three new indexes and benchmarks spanning the continent.
- S&P Pan Africa Index covers 12 African markets: Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe
- The S&P Africa Frontier Index covers eight smaller frontier markets from sub-Saharan Africa, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
- The S&P Africa 40 Index is designed to offer tradable exposure to 40 of the most liquid companies operating primarily in Africa. They must be domiciled there.
The S&P Africa 40 is dominated by companies from the financial, materials, telecommunications and industrials sectors, with MTN Group (South Africa), Orascom Construction (Egypt), First Quantum Minerals (Zambia) and Standard Bank Group (South Africa) among the largest constituents.
The indices aim to capture 80% of the total market capitalization of each country and provide a comprehensive benchmark for African markets. Now, when will an ETF for those indexes come along?