Today, Cartesian Capital, a boutique South African asset management firm, has announced the listing of an Actively Managed Exchange Traded Fund (AMETF) and an Actively Managed Certificate (AMC)on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), offering wealth managers, financial planners and retail investors access to flexible, outcome-driven building blocks designed for today’s evolving portfolio needs.
An auspicious day for the asset management industry as Cartesian is 100% black female owned and managed. Cartesian also manages a range of products across the risk return spectrum, from a Money Market Unit Trust to a Fixed Income Hedge Fund.
The AMC listing is supported by the technical expertise of Absa, while the AMETF is sponsored by EasyEquities.
“The listings respond directly to a growing demand from advisers, DFMs and direct investors for transparent and easily accessible actively managed investment solutions that can be efficiently incorporated into discretionary and advised portfolios,” says Anthea Gardner, CEO of Cartesian Capital.
The newly listed Actively Managed Certificate (AMC) provides advisers and sophisticated investors with a Rand-denominated fixed-income solution designed to deliver both income and capital growth. The portfolio follows an unconstrained, flexible, long-only approach to South African interest-bearing securities, with a clear focus on above benchmark returns and capital preservation.
Targeting outperformance of Cash by 2% per annum – compounded monthly- the AMC blends active allocations across cash, bonds, listed property and other fixed-interest instruments. This flexibility enables wealth managers and financial planners to use the AMC as a yield-enhancing allocations, while retaining liquidity and risk discipline.
In parallel, the Actively Managed Exchange Traded Fund (AMETF) is positioned as an “everyday portfolio companion” for retail investors and advisers seeking a diversified core holding. The AMETF combines the transparency, liquidity and cost-efficiency of an ETF with a disciplined actively managed mandate, making it easy for planners to deploy within model portfolios and for retail investors to understand and access. The Cartesian Easy Balance AMETF is regulation 28 compliant.
Built to be straightforward and intuitive, the AMETF provides balanced exposure across key asset classes and is aligned with what many investors want from a core investment: diversification, clarity and consistency, without unnecessary complexity.
The listings also reflect a broader structural shift in South Africa’s investment market, where actively managed ETFs and AMCs are increasingly being embraced by active asset managers as complementary tools alongside traditional unit trusts. For advisers, this evolution expands the toolkit available to construct more precise, outcome-aligned portfolios, while for investors it enhances choice, transparency and price discovery.
“We’re extremely excited to be listing the Cartesian EasyETFs Balanced AMETF and proud to support and enable the introduction of Cartesian and Anthea’s investment expertise into the market through the AMETF wrapper,” says David Oberholzer – Business Manager at EasyETFs.
Oberholzer adds: “As we continue to see strong growth and investor appetite in the listed funds space, this listing broadens access to quality, outcome-focused investment solutions in a transparent and efficient format. It’s also a testament to the increasing demand for listed distribution as a means of democratising investing. Importantly, this builds on the long-standing relationship between Easy and Cartesian, with Cartesian Capital being our first co-named partner”
Gardner concludes: “By putting the investor first and embracing innovative JSE-listed structures such as AMETFs and AMCs, Cartesian is expanding its product range to investors while remaining focused on disciplined investment outcomes.”
