Egypt Sees Launch of ETFs Before Q1-end; Official

Egypt’s market regulator is planning to release the long-awaited Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) before the end of first quarter of 2014.

Dr. Sherif Samy – Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) – told Amwal Al Ghad that he expects the ETFs are set to be released in market before the end of Q1/14. This comes as EFSA has completed all the trial sessions made in order to launch the ETFs in the market in coordination with the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) and Egypt’s Central Clearing, Depository and Registry house (MCDR), he noted.

Moreover, the Egyptian top official said the ETFs file will presented within days to the Egyptian Capital Market Authority (CMA)’s consulting committee.

He further added that ETFs are low-risk funds for which trading expenses are affordable, pointing out that they do not need analysts.

ETFs are index funds that are listed and traded on stock exchanges like shares; they allow investors to gain a broad exposure to entire stock markets of different countries and specific sectors with relative ease, on a real-time basis and at a lower cost than many other forms of investing.