Annual rebalance of the S&P/Hawkamah ESG Pan Arab index announced

The S&P/Hawkamah index committee amended the selection criteria for the index this year to exclude stocks with limited investability outside their domestic markets so that the index can be efficiently replicated by investors in the region.

Kirsty Knight, Director, Index Operations at S&P Dow Jones Indices said: "Following this year's rebalance, Saudi Arabia remains the largest country in the index, with 15 constituents and a total weight of 28.18%. The two largest stocks in the index are DP World of Dubai and Jordan's Arab Bank, each of which make up 3.21% of the index due to their high ESG score. Whilst stocks from the Financials sector continue to dominate the index with 49.95%, DP World is one of 7 representatives from the Industrials sector, which has doubled its presence in the index from 3 constituents last year."

Nick Nadal, Head of Hawkamah said, "In the recent years that we have been monitoring and assessing the performance of Middle Eastern and North African listed companies on their ESG practices, we can report a strong trend of year-on-year improvements in the disclosure of corporate governance practices by companies. While corporate reporting on social and environmental issues is generally low in the region, it is very encouraging that more and more companies have started issuing sustainability reports."