Invesco’s MSCI Saudi Arabia UCITS ETF is now the largest ETF by assets tracking the country's index.

In eight months the ETFs has attracted $315 million, after launching in June 2018.

The Invesco ETF tracks the performance of the MSCI Saudi Arabia 20/35 index. The index comprises 30 large- and mid-cap stocks, accounting for approximately 85 percent of the free float market capitalisation in Saudi Arabia.

It is the first ETF in Europe to provide passive exposure to Saudi Arabia, offering investors access to the largest economy in the Middle East.

It is available in USD on the London Stock Exchange.

Due to Saudi Arabia opening its equity market in 2015 and easing foreign investor requirements, the MSCI in June 2018 included the country in its Emerging Market (EM) index.

Invesco believes that “Saudi Arabia was one of the best performing equity markets last year.” The ETF gained almost 10 percent since the index inclusion announcement, despite the MSCI EMs falling 3.3 percent over the same period.

Gary Buxton, head of EMEA ETFs at Invesco, said: “We have seen strong client demand for this ETF mainly because Saudi Arabia is undertaking a series of major reforms intended to improve growth, diversify away from hydrocarbons and to make the country into an epicentre for global trade.

“The reforms within the ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ programme are intended to reduce the economy’s dependency on government funding and oil exports. They have several objectives, including increasing the contribution of private sector consumption to GDP, the number of Saudis working in the private sector and the use of solar and other renewable energy sources. They also want to encourage major domestic companies to expand across borders and into global markets.”

Invesco has $980.9 billion of assets under management.