Scientific Beta

Pensions & Investments: "The EDHEC-Risk Institute launched its smart beta platform in April 2013 and has had a total of 27,000 users, 500 of which are regular users. Money managers can customize benchmarks and choose different risk exposures by manipulating the nearly 3,000 indexes on the platform."

Pensions & Investments 31/03/2014

"(...) Smart beta's popularity among institutional investors has grown substantially in the past couple of years — and experts believe that will continue in 2014 and beyond. (...) “There's a much greater acceptance that cap-weighted indexes aren't the best way to invest in equities,” said Eric Shirbini, global product specialist in London with EDHEC-Risk Institute's smart beta unit, ERI Scientific Beta. One problem with cap-weighted indexes, according to Mr. Shirbini, is that net of fees, active managers tend to underperform. “That's where smart beta comes in,” he said. “The fees for smart beta are more comparable to passive than active management.” The EDHEC-Risk Institute launched its smart beta platform in April 2013 and has had a total of 27,000 users, 500 of which are regular users. Money managers can customize benchmarks and choose different risk exposures by manipulating the nearly 3,000 indexes on the platform. (...)"