A recent survey of 300 institutional investors in the US and Europe by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) – “Beyond Active and Passive, Advanced Beta Comes of Age” – found that 42 per cent of investors currently use advanced beta (or smart beta depending on your semantic tastes) and a further 24 per cent plan to do so over the next three years. 

By Valérie Baudson, Amundi – Providing our institutional clients with the most innovative and proven solutions has been the key driver behind the successful development of Amundi ETF & Indexing’s business. Today, smart beta is clearly a strategic development axis for us.

By Noël Amenc, EDHEC-Risk Institute – Two of the main points of criticism of cap-weighted indices, which only offer limited access to the risk premia of equity markets, are the following:

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE – Invesco PowerShares has been leading the “ETF Intelligent Revolution” since 2003, so when it comes to understanding the key growth drivers at work in this space, the firm is uniquely placed.

There was a clear example this April of just how far smart beta investing has come. Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) announced that it had agreed to acquire Westpeak Global Advisors, a firm that offers full-customisable solutions for smart beta investing; a clear sign of endorsement by GSAM that this area of equity investing has value.

At Risk Based Investment Solutions Ltd (RBIS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Rothschild Group, there is a firm belief that smart beta has a promising future. In fact, Herve Foucault (pictured), Head of Business and Product Development, goes so far as to say: “This is a real paradigm shift from the traditional cap-weighted model.”

Last September, Man Group’s GLG broadened out its highly successful broker-driven Europe Plus strategy which launched in 2011 as an ETF, to include two more strategies covering Continental Europe Plus (ex-UK) and Asia Plus (ex-Japan).