Scientific Beta

ETF Strategy: "“It is difficult to accept index providers conducting most of their marketing either with the idea of being a market reference, in the case of cap-weighted indices, or with simulated historical track records of outperformance, in the case of smart beta indices, without giving markets the means to check and question the representativity or the outperformance.”"

ETF Strategy 17/03/2014

"(...) Institutional investors remain dissatisfied with the levels of transparency offered by index providers, according to a survey conducted by EDHEC-Risk Institute. This key finding comes at a time when indices are gaining in prominence and importance as more and more investors adopt a passive-based approach to investing, most notably via index-linked exchange-traded funds (ETFs). (...) Commenting on the survey, Noël Amenc, Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute, said: “Transparency guarantees the efficiency of an index market that is becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. The market needs to form opinions by sharing information and expertise. It is difficult to accept index providers conducting most of their marketing either with the idea of being a market reference, in the case of cap-weighted indices, or with simulated historical track records of outperformance, in the case of smart beta indices, without giving markets the means to check and question the representativity or the outperformance.” (...)"