South Africa's first palladium-backed exchange-traded funds are expected to begin trading next week as competition heats up.

Standard Bank Group said it plans to list its ETF on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Monday, while Absa Capital, a unit of Barclays, said it would launch a similar offering on Thursday. The ETFs by two of the country's biggest banks will be backed with palladium that the South African Reserve Bank says must be sourced locally.