EFG Hermes, the MENA's financial services corporation major, has ranked first in 2017 institutional investor EMEA poll for initiating coverage on Pakistan, Vietnam equities, and frontier market economies. EFG has recently launched coverage of Vietnamese banks as well as 11 Egyptian small and mid-cap stocks and introduced economic analysis on frontier markets, including Pakistan and Kenya. The number of regional equities EFG covered currently reaches over 170 for the first time in the the group's history. EFG Hermes Research also came in second on the globally acclaimed Thomson Reuters Emerging Markets Extel Survey. "Consistently placing in the top ten in some of the world's most important research surveys is a testament to our high quality standards, integrity, and the firm's overall focus on innovative products – a key component of our Group strategy," said EFG Hermes Group chief executive Karim Awad. "... our Research Division has achieved on both the group and individual levels, with three of our analysts ranking in the top 10 among more than 170 analysts covering the MENA region in the Extel Survey." "Investor interest in frontier markets has been growing over the past five years due to low interest rates in developed markets and slow growth in emerging markets, coupled with improving political and economic conditions in frontier markets." EFG Head of Research Ahmed Shams El-Din said. EFG's research division was also able to successfully predict and accommodate new investor appetite for small and mid-cap stocks, the group said in a statement on Sunday. Initiating coverage on these new companies has expanded EFG Hermes' coverage to c.63 percent of regional market capitalisation from c.58 percent in under a year, it added. "We will continue to ... grow our on-the-ground presence across different geographies, in accordance with the firm's ambitious expansion strategy," Shams El-Din added. By end of 2017, the research division is planning to increase its coverage to reach 70 percent of market capitalisation; covering 220 equities, in both, emerging and frontier markets across the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia.
