Actively managed exchange traded funds (AMETFs) were first introduced globally in 2008 as a financial investment product, but it took them a decade to gain significant traction in the market. Since then they have surged in popularity – in the US, for example, the value of assets under management for AMETFs was $773 billion in the last quarter of 2025 – up by more than 90% since the end of 2018. AMETFs, which merge the principles of traditional active portfolio management with the liquidity and tradability of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), were first listed on the JSE in May 2023, and as at 31 March 2026 there were 43 AMETFs listed on the exchange with a collective market cap of about R21 billion.

‘Today, the local AMETF industry has 11 issuers, some of which are also offering index-tracking ETFs, but the majority offer mostly unit trusts. The AMETF market relative to the index-tracking or passive-investment strategy ETFs comprises about 8% of the total ETF market, around R253 billion in market cap – an attractive growth story,’ says Adèle Hattingh, the JSE’s Specialist Securities Manager.

She says AMETFs essentially offer investors a single listed investment vehicle that can encompass a plethora of assets (local or global) managed according to an active investment strategy, while investors are able to buy and sell them throughout the trading day through the ease of an online share trading app.

‘AMETF portfolio managers, through investment strategy, aim to outperform a particular benchmark, whereas traditional index-tracking ETFs aim to deliver the market’s performance. The investor can therefore benefit from both strategies, depending on which way the market moves, in their portfolio through this diversification benefit. AMETFs hold another benefit in that they are generally TFSA [tax-free savings account]-compliant instruments,’ she says.

There have been several drivers behind the rapid growth of AMETFs on the JSE, says Hattingh.

‘Issuers are recognising the efficiency that AMETFs can offer, being a listed and daily traded investment product. Plus their cost efficiency and client liability management, offered via Strate [SA’s principal central securities depository and central collateral platform], are more compelling benefits.

‘As the AMETF wrapper is a CIS [collective investment scheme] and therefore regulated by the FSCA [Financial Sector Conduct Authority], they offer issuers further comfort. There are also other safeguards as AMETFs are regulated under the JSE’s listing requirements.’

Hattingh says another development is the ability of AMETF issuers to offer co-partnered solutions, therefore allowing asset managers that have either not participated as ETF issuers before, or have traditionally operated as unit trust issuers only, to now also provide a listed investment product to investors. ‘This is a cost-effective entry way for issuers that wish to control their set-up costs associated with the establishment of ETFs and AMETFs.

‘Also, in 2017 the South African Reserve Bank issued an Exchange Control Circular that allowed locally registered CIS management companies to list ETFs, with full offshore underlying assets, to have unlimited investment in offshore assets subject to the restrictions on their offshore portfolio allowances. As AMETFs are ETFs, but have an active investment strategy, the same treatment is applied,’ says Hattingh.

She says the AMETF market is still very much in its early days of development, and it holds a great deal of promise, particularly as many investors, especially younger generations, are opting to take a great deal more ownership in their investment decision-making and want an instrument that is flexible, cost effective and accessible.

‘The entry of well-known South African unit trust issuers in the AMETF space is a further nod to the legitimacy of this product and its many benefits to investors.’

Hattingh says AMETFs are another ingredient in the JSE’s broader strategy of product innovation and expanding investor choice. ‘AMETFs are a further expansion of the JSE’s product suite offering – a response to not only local demand but aligning with international trends.

‘AMETFs enhance the JSE’s existing exchanged traded product offering through offering greater diversification of underlying assets and investment strategies in a cost-effective manner.’

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