Smart beta: Investors struggle to navigate plethora of launches

The smart beta challenge

As ETF investors become more sophisticated, it is no longer enough for groups to launch passive products tracking traditional indices.

Now the name of the game seems to be ‘smart beta’, and product providers have been busy launching ETFs tracking specific themes. Increasingly, they are able to strip out a particular area of the market for more focused exposure. Take the US, for example. The number of share buybacks by S&P 500 companies went through the roof last year, prompting launches of ETFs tracking the S&P 500 Buyback index.  Amundi unveiled one such product earlier this month, shortly after iShares launched the US Equity Buyback Achievers ETF, investing in companies listed on the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchan...