Opinion Psychology and smart beta
‘Smart beta’ sounds like an oxymoron. How smart can it be to continue using the same strategy in such fickle markets? A portfolio manager calling on all his skills (‘alpha’) in analysing market environments (the source of ‘beta’) should be able to outperform an unchanged (...)
|
Innovation Solactive expands family of USD High Yield Corporates Indices used as the basis for three new Xtrackers ETFs
Solactive is adding three new indices to its family of high yield corporate bond indices, which have been developed as the basis for three new Xtrackers ETFs issued this week and trading on the NYSE.
|
Innovation Ossiam ETF on the Risk Weighted Enhanced Commodity Ex Grains TR Index
Using its expertise in systematic asset management, in 2013, Ossiam has set up an ETF offering a long only exposure to a risk weighted enhanced commodity index, based on S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index constituents, excluding (...)
|
Interview Philip Tindall : « We see further development of non-market cap approaches in bonds »
According to Philip Tindall, senior investment consultant at Towers Watson, there has been a lot of interest in smart betas area, and investors are beginning to allocate assets - Towers Watson’s clients have invested more than (...)
|
Note Building Minimum Variance Portfolios with low risk, low drawdowns and strong returns
This paper provides an introduction to the STOXX Minimum Variance Indices and aims to achieve three things : i) an overview of minimum variance investing ii) the methodology for the construction and maintenance of the STOXX Minimum Variance Indices, highlighting the unique (...)
|
Strategy Does a liquidity factor premium exist in the stock market?
Academic studies present ample evidence in support of the existence of four factor premiums in stock markets: Low Risk, Value, Momentum, and Quality. Factor investing puts these concepts into practice by enabling investors to allocate their capital explicitly to these (...)
|
Strategy How Smart is ‘Smart Beta’ Investing?
Investors increasingly embrace “smart beta” investing, by which we mean passively following an index in which stock weights are not proportional to their market capitalizations, but based on some alternative weighting scheme. Examples include fundamentally-weighted indices (...)
|
Innovation Amundi ETF offers a complete range of mono factor exposures at competitive pricing with two newly launched ETFs
Amundi ETF completes its mono-factor range on the MSCI Europe index by listing on Euronext Paris two new Quality and Momentum risk-factor ETFs. Amundi ETF’s comprehensive range of mono-factor exposures on European equities is offered at competitive ongoing charges of only (...)
|
Strategy Low volatility, the hidden factor
Robert Haugen, who discovered the low-volatility anomaly in 1972, wrote numerous articles and books to try to popularise what he called the ‘hidden factor’. To some extent, it was only the advent of smart beta investment strategies that turned his dream into reality, as low (...)
|
Interview Caroline Le Meaux Lambert : « We are looking for strategies able to benefit from upward equity trends while limiting volatility »
Caroline Le Meaux Lambert, head of delegated asset management at Caisse des Dépôts for the French public pension fund Ircantec, tells us a little more about the Smart Beta concept.
|
Innovation Amundi unveils the first European Equity Multi-Factor Market Neutral ETF
Amundi ETF continues to innovate with the launch of the first European Equity Multi Factor Market Neutral ETF. Available on Euronext Paris, it will also be listed on the main European stock exchanges in the coming (...)
|
News ETFGI reports assets invested in Smart Beta equity ETFs/ETPs listed globally have increased 18.3% in 2017 to reach a new record of US$630 Bn at the end of August
ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm on trends in the global ETF/ETP ecosystem, reported today that assets invested in Smart Beta equity ETFs/ETPs listed globally have increased 18.3% in the first 8 months of the (...)
|
Opinion Smart Betas offer a new approach to bridge market bias
When Alan Greenspan spoke of "market exuberance" (i.e. the lightning-fast mood swings from optimism to an investment bubble popping) wasn’t he referring to what we could call a "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" syndrome?
|
Interview Salwa Boussoukaya-Nasr : « We look at all the existing strategies that are based on risk metrics, factor-based or fundamental values approaches. »
According to Salwa Boussoukaya-Nasr, CFO of FRR (« Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites ») the French reserve fund, developments are necessary for more transparency for the turnover costs generated by the implementation of Smart Beta (...)
|
Interview Michel Manteau : « We have mainly chosen minimum variance strategies because we seek to reduce the volatility of our equity portfolio »
Michel Manteau, head of portfolio management at CARMF (« Caisse Autonome de Retraite des Médecins de France »), the retirement institution for french doctors tells us more about Smart Beta strategies.
|