My Asian ETF review for Index Universe this month looks at the first Bangladesh and Pakistan ETFs from db x-trackers, among a number of other new launches.

I have mixed feelings about products such as these. On one hand, it’s good to see the options for international investing getting ever broader – both as an investor and as someone who writes about international investing, I’m obviously in favour of that.

But on the other, as my brief analysis of these products in the article suggests, there are issues with ETFs in many emerging markets: index construction, portfolio concentration, quality of companies, liquidity of the market and many other potential problems. The less sophisticated the market is, the more carefully investors need to ask whether indexing is the best strategy.