Investors in frontier markets are among the bigger winners of 2014. The MSCI Frontier Markets returned 17.9% in the year to 3 December 2014, compared to a paltry 5.2% for the MSCI Emerging Markets.
Some investors love the return potential of frontier markets, while others consider them volatile and expensive.
Georgia, Senegal, and Ghana could be the next candidates to be upgraded to MSCI frontier market status, according to LGM Investments' Thomas Vester.
LGM Investments (formerly Lloyd George Management) has reopened its LGM Frontier Markets strategy to investors following a dip in assets.
Fund buyers are taking profits in frontier markets after the recent reshuffle of constituents and a strong run of performance.
Taking 2013 as a whole, emerging markets fell by 4.4% at a time when the MSCI Frontier Markets index rose by an impressive 23.6% (in sterling, net total return).
Vietnam and Romania are prime candidates for an upgrade to the coveted emerging market status, and could soon follow in the footsteps of the UAE. Charlemagne's Bokor-Ingram explains why.