Scientific Beta

Ignites Europe: "Some academics have raised red flags about the ability of some of these strategies to produce consistent performance. “The existence of so many smart beta strategies coupled with so little information on justification of their performance could cast doubt on the very usefulness of these strategies,” write a group of researchers from the French academic research group EDHEC-Risk Institute’s ERI Scientific Beta unit."

Ignites Europe 20/11/2014

"(...) While strategic-beta ETF proponents tout the lofty returns and relatively smooth long-term rides of such products, advisors and home offices are beginning to ask tough questions about what is really driving the category’s performance. (...) Some academics have raised red flags about the ability of some of these strategies to produce consistent performance. “The existence of so many smart beta strategies coupled with so little information on justification of their performance could cast doubt on the very usefulness of these strategies,” write a group of researchers from the French academic research group EDHEC-Risk Institute’s ERI Scientific Beta unit. Such questions hold some investors back from investing. Doubts over “robustness of outperformance” ranked as the top reason for not investing in smart-beta strategies, according to a survey of investors done by the EDHEC-Risk Institute. (...)"