The JSE announced on Tuesday that South African investment management and solutions company Sygnia had listed its Sygnia Itrix Sustainable Economy (SYGSE) exchange-traded fund (ETF) on the bourse. This was created for investors seeking diversification in their offshore investments.

SYGSE is an ETF that tracks the S&P Kensho Sustainable Technologies Index. This S&P Kensho index measures how companies, with exposure to clean power, intelligent infrastructure, remote working technologies, smart transport and manufacturing, space exploration and sustainable agriculture, perform.

“Finding themes that provide growth in a low-growth world is critical to successful investing, and innovation stocks focused on building a sustainable economy present key opportunities,” explained Sygnia investments head Kyle Hulett.

At the same time, the JSE also announced that it was introducing new amendments to its listing requirements. These amendments, which will come into effect on Friday (October 14), will allow, for the first time in the JSE’s history, issuers to list and trade actively managed ETFs (AMETFs). This step is expected to promote the growth of the ETF sector on the bourse. Currently, following the listing of SYGSE, there are 94 ETFs listed on the JSE, with a total market capitalisation of more than R114-billion.

Hitherto, ETFs on the local bourse had simply passively tracked an index or some other category of asset. With AMETFs, an investment manager employed an active investment strategy to obtain returns for investors.

“The JSE is a magnet for ETF issuers who take seriously their responsibility to strike a balance between generating returns for investors and addressing [environmental, social and governance-] related concerns,” affirmed JSE Capital Markets director Valdene Reddy. “Investors have the opportunity to invest in ETFs like SYGSE and gain exposure to the underlying companies who contribute towards growing a sustainable economy.” She added that she was pleased that ETF issuers were continuing to “flock” to the JSE.