MSCI adds 3 Pakistani cos to Frontier Market Index, 11 to FM Small Cap Index

Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Inc., a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services, announced the addition of three Pakistani companies as constituents on its Frontier Market (FM) and 11 companies in its FM Small Cap Index as part of its November 2025 index review.

Meanwhile, two Pakistani companies have been removed from its FM Small Cap Index.

In the MSCI Frontier Markets Indexes, three Pakistani companies have been added, stated MSCI in the note.

These companies include Askari Bank, Bank of Punjab and Meezan Bank. These changes are to take effect from the close of November 24, 2025.

“The three largest additions to the MSCI Frontier Markets Index measured by full company market capitalisation will be Vietnam Airlines JSC (Vietnam), Meezan Bank (Pakistan) and Bank Al Etihad (Jordan),” read the statement.

The MSCI Frontier Markets Index captures large and mid-cap representation across Frontier Markets countries. The index covers about 85% of the free float-adjusted market capitalisation in each country.

Meanwhile, eleven Pakistani securities were added to MSCI Frontier Markets Small Cap Indexes, including AGP, Big Bird Foods, Gatron Industries, Ghani Chemical Industries, Ghani Global Holdings, International Packaging Films, Ittehad Chemicals, Javedan, Sitara Chemical Industries, SPEL Limited and The Organic Meat Company Limited.

While one stock was moved to the main index, i.e. Bank of Punjab, and one was deleted, namely Atlas Battery.

“Pakistan’s market has outperformed the MSCI FM index by 14.6% in FY26 to date,” said Arif Habib Limited (AHL), in a note. “Pakistan’s weight in the FM standard index is expected to be around 6.67%,” AHL added.

In September 2021, Pakistan was downgraded from its status as an emerging market, a little over four years after it was reclassified from the Frontier Markets (FM) Index by MSCI.

Back then, the MSCI had said that while the Pakistani equity market meets the requirements for market accessibility under the classification framework for Emerging Markets, it no longer meets the standards for size and liquidity.