Doha Bank and Amwal have partnered to launch Qatar’s first ETF – the QE Index ETF (QETF QD) – an equity fund tracking the largest and most liquid companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).
Sheikha Hanadi Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani, chairperson of Amwal.
Qatari investment firm Amwal acts as the ETF’s fund manager while Doha Bank acts as founder and sponsor.
The methodology behind the underlying QE Index – Qatar’s preeminent benchmark index – initially excludes companies with velocity (annualised ratio of the traded value of shares to market capitalisation) of less than 5%, as are companies where a single shareholder can only own less than 1% of outstanding shares.
The index then selects the 20 largest and most liquid companies on QSE and weights them by market capitalization with a cap of 15% per stock. The index is rebalanced semi-annually on the first day of April and October.
The top three holdings in the index are Qatar National Bank (14.4%), Industries Qatar (industrials) (14.0%), and Rayan (financial services) (11.8%).
The index has fallen 14.8% over the past year and is down 2.0% year-to-date (as of 8th March 2018).
QETF has a total expense ratio (TER) of 0.50%, the lowest expense ratio of any Middle East & North Africa (MENA) equity fund listed globally.
“Great thought and effort has gone into the development of an ETF market at QSE and a listing based on our main index was always going to be a proud moment,” said Rashid Ali Al-Mansoori, CEO of the Qatar Stock Exchange.
“There’s no denying the popularity of ETFs globally and we’re excited at the new trading opportunities the ETF provides to our investors. Given the strong outlook for Qatar as an economy, the QETF is a key product offering for us and we look forward to the success of this ETF.”
Dr. R. Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, said, “Through our collaboration with Amwal and The Group Securities, we believe the QETF holds immense promise and opens a gateway to the Qatari market for global investors. We expect this to be the first of many future products focused on Qatar.”
“Amwal is proud to have the QETF as part of its product portfolio. Passive investment strategies are playing a bigger role for institutional investors looking for emerging market exposure as part of their global asset allocation,” added Sheikha Hanadi Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani, chairperson of Amwal.