Leading index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) announced changes to the MSCI Frontier Market Index in its May 2019 semi-annual review, in particular 2 additions and 23 deletions from the Index.

The bulk of the deletions from the Index were due to MSCI upgrading Argentina to an Emerging Market. A total of 14 Argentinian stocks were removed from the Index, with eight of those removed selected to be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. The remaining six stocks that did not make it (such as Arcos Dorados and Loma Negra) will be included in the MSCI Global Small Cap Index instead.

Three Nigerian stocks – Access Bank Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria and United Bank For Africa – were removed from the main Index and accommodated in the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index.

Oman (National Bank of Oman), Bangladesh (Renata), Croatia (Valamar Riviera), Kazakhstan (KCell), Tunisia (Banque Int Arabe De Tunis) and Vietnam (FLC Faros Construction) all had one company removed from the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

Vietnam’s PetroVietnam Power Corp and Tunisia’s Banque De Tunisie were the only two additions to the MSCI Frontier Market Index in May. They replaced their outgoing country-counterparts FLC Faros Construction (which was added to the Index in February 2017) and Banque Int Arabe De Tunis respectively.

On the small-cap front, there were 12 additions and 24 deletions from the MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index. Sri Lanka and Vietnam had the most securities deleted (5), closely followed by Argentina and Bangladesh (4). Nigeria had the most securities added to the Index (3), followed by Bangladesh and Vietnam (2).

MSCI also announced in the review that it has launched the MSCI Malta Investable Market Index as a standalone market index.

Summary per country can be found below:

MSCI Frontier Markets Index

Country	# of Additions	# of Deletions
Argentina	0	14
Nigeria	0	3
Oman	0	1
Bangladesh	0	1
Croatia	0	1
Kazakhstan	0	1
Tunisia	1	1
Vietnam	1	1

MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Index

Country	# of Additions	# of Deletions
Argentina	0	4
Sri Lanka	0	5
Kuwait	1	0
Nigeria	3	1
Oman	0	2
Bangladesh	2	4
Croatia	1	0
Ivory Coast	0	1
Kenya	1	1
Kazakhstan	1	0
Tunisia	1	1
Vietnam	2	5