Sygnia has issued a new Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) on the S&P Global 1200 index with an ESG (environmental, social and governance) overlay.

Sygnia will be removing stocks that don’t meet their ESG requirements and that will hence change the weightings of the remaining stocks. But will it improve returns? For me, I like the ESG concept but it is early days to really see if it gives outperformance or is it more about feeling comfortable with our investments? Not a bad thing at all.

For those wanting ESG, we now have the two from Satrix issued last year over the MSCI developed world and the other over emerging markets and this new one from Sygnia.

The new Sygnia ETF details;

• Code: SYGESG
• Listing date: 12 April 2021
• Target TER: 0.35%
• Tax-free compliant? Yes
• Dividends: Paid out twice a year
• Main sectors: IT 22.9%, financial 14.7% and health care 11.9%.

Our preferred ETF has long been the S&P 1200 Global issued by Ashburton, ASHEQF. The reason is simple, one ETF to rule them all and with that in mind it needs to be a global ETF and this index also gives some emerging market exposure, even if only single-digit percentages. This new Sygnia ETF tracking the same index could be that one ETF.

This new ETF target TER is 0.35% so a little cheaper and with the ESG component, I’m taking a wait and see approach, but if you want global and ESG you now have another option for investing.

I interviewed Sygnia’s Iva Madjarova about the ETF, listen below, she starts at 14:38

At Just One Lap, we are big fans of passive investment using ETFs. In this weekly blog, we discuss ETFs on the local market and the factors you need to consider when choosing an ETF. If you have wondered how one ETF differs from another, this is where you can find out. We explain which index each ETF tracks, what type of portfolio could benefit from holding each ETF, and how the costs will affect your bottom line.