EFG Hermes, a leading financial services institution in Egypt, said it has for the first time been ranked as the number one frontier market brokerage firm in the Extel Survey 2018, advancing from the ninth place last year.

The nod from the high-profile industry survey comes just two years into EFG Hermes’ drive to expand beyond the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) into frontier emerging markets, said a statement from company.

Prior to this prestigious ranking, EFG Hermes was named the top Africa Ex-South Africa Equities House at the Financial Mail Top Analyst Awards 2018, solidifying its strong presence in the African market, it said.

Ali Khalpey, the London-based chief executive officer of EFG Hermes Frontier, said: “Coming on the heels of our ranking as the top Africa Ex-South Africa Equities House, this industry recognition highlights the core strength of our research manifested in its ability to respond rapidly to the significantly increasing demand for new investment ideas and strategies amid the ever-changing dynamics of markets and economies.”

“Our strategy is to match our growing execution capabilities with world-class research that meets the needs of our clients,” he said.

“Beyond our strength as a research house in the Mena region, this is proof that our calculated investments into frontier expansion has paid off and underscores our unmatched strength in new geographies that we have entered within the past two years,” he added.

The commendation follows EFG Hermes Frontier’s recent entry into Bangladesh, bringing its direct presence to 11 markets across four continents, said a statement.

In addition to ramping up execution capabilities to cover more than 95 per cent of markets on the MSCI Frontier Emerging Index, EFG Hermes has focused its frontier efforts on providing clients with world-class, on-the-ground research spanning African, Middle Eastern and Asian markets, it said.

EFG Hermes Research also dominated the Mena regional analyst rankings, with nine of the firm’s analysts ranking in the top 20, four of them in the top 10, including Elena Sanchez-Cabezudo (financials, #3); Mohamed Abu Basha (economics, #5); Hatem Alaa (consumer, #6); and Nada Amin (consumer, #8), it added.

Overall, EFG Hermes was the second-ranked firm in Mena, and the top-ranked Mena-headquartered firm in the poll, said a statement.

EFG Hermes co-chief executive officer of the Investment Bank Mohamed Ebeid said: “These accolades underscore the outstanding capabilities of our award-winning research team and mark the passage of another milestone in our transformation into a leading frontier player.”

“We continue to seek the right opportunities to expand into high-growth frontier emerging markets, while focusing on consolidating our presence to create the right opportunities to serve our clients with a superior product offering across all markets,” he added.

Ahmed Shams El Din, head of research, EFG Hermes, said: “Being consistently ranked in the top five in some of the world’s most important research surveys is a testament to our high quality standards and the firm’s overall focus on innovative products – a key component of our strategy.”

“By the end of 2018, we plan on adding more than 35 African equities to our research coverage, in addition to new products covering strategy, macro-economy, and sector reports. Our clients can now trade banking and financial equities, while gaining insights from our research team, which covers banks in Kenya, Nigeria, Vietnam and the Mena region,” he said.

EFG Hermes Research’s coverage universe currently spans all major frontier markets, with 65 stocks currently under coverage. In 2018, the division plans to expand coverage to over 100 frontier stocks in the financials, consumers, utilities, telecommunications and energy sectors, it added.

New markets on the coverage horizon include Georgia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Ivory Coast and Sri Lanka, it said.

Firms ranked in the Extel Survey 2018 were selected from 506 sell-side firms, and over 10,500 investment professionals. In 2017, EFG Hermes ranked second out of 33 global and regional research houses in the Extel Survey for Mena while maintaining its position as the top research house in the Mena region, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service