Scientific Beta

ETF.com: "The underlying index is from ERI Scientific Beta, the indexing arm of French think tank EDHEC-Risk Institute, and is a so-called multi strategy index which ranks stocks in equal weight."

ETF.com 10/06/2014

"(...) Morgan Stanley has launched its first exchange traded fund (ETF) which tracks a smart beta, equally weighted index from ERI Scientific Beta. The synthetically replicated MS Scientific Beta Global Equity Factors UCITS ETF will be held on Morgan Stanley’s FundLogic platform and managed by Fundlogic SAS. The ETF is domiciled in Ireland and has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange, with a total expense ratio of 0.40 percent. The underlying index is from ERI Scientific Beta, the indexing arm of French think tank EDHEC-Risk Institute, and is a so-called multi strategy index which ranks stocks in equal weight. (...) EDHEC-Risk Institute announced its strategic partnership with Morgan Stanley and French fund provider Amundi in February. Morgan Stanley has signed a global replication licence, allowing the bank to replicate Scientific Beta indices and share information with all fund counterparties relating to its replication. Noël Amenc, director of EDHEC-Risk Institute and chief executive of ERI Scientific Beta, said: “Through Morgan Stanley’s FundLogic platform, UCITS ETF investors can get exposure to our Strategy in a very efficient way.” Amundi also plans to launch an ETF in June which tracks the EDHEC Risk Institute’s new smart beta "multi-strategy" index. (...)"