[JOHANNESBURG, WEDNESDAY 30 MARCH 2022]

Satrix Managers (Pty) Ltd have once again taken the most SALTA Awards, at this year’s event, held on Wednesday evening, 30 March 2022. The Awards are made to the issuing houses of JSE listed Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) for investment return performance  and excellence in the provision of index tracking products, over the past 3 to 10 years. 

In all, 26 SALTA Awards were announced and a summary of the Winners is shown below.

A list of the individual Award Winners, per category, is listed in the Appendix.

The South African Listed Tracker Fund Awards (SALTA) are an initiative by four service providers to the Exchange Traded Product industry in South Africa, to reward issuers of ETPs for outstanding performance by their products. The four service providers are: etfSA.co.za, Profile Data, The JSE Limited and Refinitiv. 

The 26 Awards for 2022 were made in the following categories: 

Total Investment Returns for 3, 5 and 10 Years (11 Awards) for both local and foreign referenced ETPs.
Tracking Efficiency (4 Awards) – lowest tracking error relative to the specific benchmark tracked over a 3-year period, for all qualifying ETFs and ETNs. 
Trading Efficiency (5 Awards) – for trading on the JSE secondary market at the closest prices to NAV (Net Asset Value) of the ETP over a 3 year period. 
New Capital Raised (5 Awards) – in IPOs or through secondary issues on the JSE to raise fresh capital for the past 3 years. 
People’s Choice Award (1 Award) – the ETP voted as the “favourite ETP” by public poll.

Inclusion of ETNs in this years Awards
A new initiative by the organisers of the SALTA Awards was to include Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs) for the first time in the judging universe. With 82 ETNs now listed on the JSE (versus 86 ETFs), the addition of ETN products broadens the numbers of products under consideration substantially.

ETNs issued to cover only single securities were not taken into consideration, but all  ETNs tracking an index or portfolio of securities, were included. Three ETNs won SALTA Awards this year, and they are 

• NewWave Pound ETN – Tracking Efficiency over 3 years for Foreign Non-Equity, Commodity & Currency ETPs
• NewWave US Dollar ETN – Trading Efficiency over 3 years for Foreign Non-Equity Commodity & Currency ETPs
• Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) – UABCPA – Anbro Capital ETN, which tracks a portfolio of start-up (Unicorn) global securities – for best Total Returns over 3 years for Actively Managed ETPs

People’s Choice Award
Once again, the People’s Choice was the Satrix 40 ETF. This was the first ETF issued in South Africa in November 2000. Now in its 21st year of issue, it continues to remain the favourite of the investment public.

The People’s Choice Award, now also in its fifth year, requests the public to vote on their personal choice ETF/ETN and to add comments on why this is their favourite product. A dedicated website is set up for this purpose and this year, another record was set for responses from the public. This is now truly a very representative sample of the public’s opinion on the ETP products available in South Africa.

Seven of the top Ten ETPs voted for in the People’s Choice, were issued by Satrix. This is clearly the top-rated retail brand in the public’s opinion.

Top Ten People’s Choice Votes
In order of votes received)

1. Satrix 40 ETF
2. 1nvest Top 40 ETF
3. Sygnia Itrix 4th Industrial Revolution ETF
4. Satrix DIVI Plus ETF
5. 1nvest S&P 500 Information Technology ETF
6. Satrix MSCI World ETF
7. Satrix Nasdaq 100 ETF
8. Satrix S&P 500 ETF
9. Satrix RESI ETF
10. Satrix RAFI 40 ETF

People’s Champion Award
Another innovation introduced by the organisers of the SALTA Awards was to inaugurate a “People’s Champion” Award. This asks the pubic to construct a portfolio of four (4) ETFs/ETNs, which will deliver the best returns over the period 1 April 2022 to 28 February 2023. The portfolio competition will 
allocate 25% to each ETP chosen by the participant and it is believed that a clear winner, in terms of Total Investment Returns generated, should emerge over the next 11 month period.

The new People’s Champion Award, truly engages the investment public in a competition of skill and has attracted a surprisingly large number of entrants.

BACKGROUND
The South African Listed Tracker Awards (“SALTA”) are now in their fifth year. It is an initiative by certain service providers to the growing ETF industry in South Africa, who are not issuers of ETFs themselves, to reward such issuers for exceptional products provided to the South African markets.

The JSE Limited, Refinitiv, Profile Data and etfSA.co.za are the sponsors and organisers of these Awards.

A rigorous analysis of daily NAV pricing and other data, provided by the administrators of ETFs to local data collectors has been used to assess investment performance and other ratios to determine the best providers of ETFs in the various categories measured. Only quantitative assessments have been utilised and no subjective judgements were made.

For full summary of award winners, please  view here.