{
  "id": 7419920,
  "title": "JPMorgan to launch long-awaited 'frontier' local currency debt index",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/jpmorgan-to-launch-long-awaited-frontier-local-currency-debt-index-7419920",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-14T13:37:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Business Times - Companies & Markets",
    "slug": "the-business-times-companies-markets",
    "url": "https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/international/global/jpmorgan-launch-long-awaited-frontier-local-currency-debt-index"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "JPMorgan is scheduled to unveil a new frontier market local-currency government bond index by the end of September, providing investors with a benchmark for roughly $330 billion in debt from some of the world's fastest-growing economies. This \"GBI-EM Edge\" benchmark, a counterpart to JPMorgan's hard-currency NEXGEM frontier index launched two decades prior, will encompass bonds from 26 nations. Notable players include Egypt, Vietnam, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, many of which have witnessed robust market surges in recent years following crises.\n\nFrontier economies, home to a fifth of the global population but accounting for only 3.1% of global capital flows and less than 5% of global GDP, are poised to expand dramatically over the next quarter-century, with their populations expected to rise by 800 million—more than the rest of the world combined. This growth will make them increasingly pivotal to global economic expansion. Economists anticipate that these new debt indexes will stimulate the development of local-currency markets, a long-pursued objective by the World Bank and IMF to mitigate currency crises that leave governments unable to service dollar debt.\n\nThe index, which only includes bonds of $250 million equivalent or above with at least 2.5 years remaining to maturity, will cap any country's weighting at 8%. African countries will contribute nearly half of the index, while \"Frontier Asia,\" comprising Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, will account for nearly a third. Thomas Christiansen, head of EM fixed income at fund manager UBP in London, noted that the index's launch underscores the burgeoning interest in frontier market investing. \"I don’t think this index would have been feasible 10 years ago,\" he remarked. \"People are realizing these markets offer significant diversification benefits.\"\n\nBond indexes can influence the fates of developing economies, as international investors frequently gravitate towards the bonds included in them. FTSE Russell has maintained a similar index since 2021. JPMorgan indexes, however, are more popular among emerging market money managers, who utilize them to gauge their own performance. Analysts estimate that tradeable local-currency emerging market debt has tripled over the past decade to approximately $1 trillion. The new GBI-EM Edge will track nearly $330 billion of this total, boasting a nominal yield of nearly 10.4%, roughly 440 basis points higher than the mainstream EM local currency index. Back-testing indicates that the index's returns would have been 1.2 percentage points higher on an annualized basis over the past nine years.\n\nSome investors worried that the $250 million minimum requirement would exclude countries like Zambia, but the nation's recent efforts to enlarge its bond market have secured its inclusion. JPMorgan observed in its index description that many of these markets resemble the core emerging markets of the early 2000s, characterized by high nominal carry, improving market infrastructure and occasional volatility.",
  "summary": "JPMorgan has been working on the new index for years",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Channel News Asia",
        "title": "JPMorgan to launch frontier market local currency debt index by month end, source says",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/14/jpmorgan-to-launch-frontier-market-local-currency-debt-index-by-month",
        "published": "2026-09-14T09:41:53.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}