Reports and investment research on ETFs and other fund vehicles, including mutual funds, UCITs and white papers on liquid alternatives. Research on liquid alts has received a lot of attention, as institutional investors and FOHFs show increasing interest in the many different types of liquid alternative mutual funds. For hedge funds, alternative UCITs provide another opportunity to expand... their investor universe. Research on future trends in UCITs has been popular, as have papers on the use of sub-advisers for liquid alternatives. The most popular ETF research includes papers on smart beta ETFs, best practices for ETF trading, Asian ETFs and bond ETFs. Different ETF articles will appeal to different members. For asset allocators seeking to make short-term allocations to an asset class, research providing a cost comparison of futures and ETFs has received many downloads. For DC Plan Sponsors, the question "should ETFs be an investment option in DC plans?" has generated a lot of interest, whereas for Canadian plan sponsors a paper questioning the use of mutual funds in Canadian pensions has proved popular.
A robust and active trading ecosystem benefits asset owners and investment managers by fostering transparency, market efficiency, and investor confidence. This paper documents, for the first time, the extent and nature of that ecosystem for indices produced by S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). The results offer a…
In our last report, we showed that in 2017, insurance companies increased their use of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by a significant amount (37% year-over-year). In 2018, insurance companies continued to increase their use of ETFs and, in spite of a market correction in the Q4 2018, held ETF assets in line with long-term…
Crowding is a major concern for investors in alternative risk premia. By focusing on the distinct mechanics of various systematic strategies, this study introduces a framework that provides insights into the implications of crowding for subsequent strategy performance. Understanding such implications is key for strategy…
Institutions are continuously seeking ways to improve their portfolio's risk return profile. This paper compares and contrasts those vehicles and demonstrates that certain institutions that are comfortable with the implications of investing in those vehicles should carefully consider them.
Last year’s robust inflows into ETFs across retail and institutional channels occurred amid volatile market conditions and the deep sell-off in global equity markets. However, the data suggests last year’s robust growth in ETF investments by U.S. institutions occurred not in spite of these factors, but rather because of them…
For the first time in the nine years we have conducted our institutional usage and adoption studies, more U.S. institutions are investing in equity ETFs than in individual stocks. Three-quarters of respondents in this year’s study invest in equity ETFs, compared with 59% investing in individual stocks. When the sample is…
One key measure of successful active management lies in the ability of a manager or a strategy to outperform their peers repeatedly. Consistent success is the one way to differentiate a manager’s luck from skill. The S&P Persistence Scorecard shows that few funds consistently outperformed their peers; 11.4% of domestic…
One of the biggest drivers of ETF demand in institutional channels and elsewhere has been the decade-long movement of investment assets from active management to index strategies. Morningstar recently reported that index strategies grew from about 45% of U.S. equity fund assets in 2017 to 48% in 2018, as investors pulled an…
A number of papers have demonstrated that over historical periods, a specified set of factors has outperformed actively managed funds. In almost all cases, however, the factors used or the procedures followed are not replicable by tradable passive investments. In addition, tradable passive investments have expense ratios…
This report has been commissioned by The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) to act as a point of reference about the current state of the investment funds industry in Canada, and the changes that have taken place in the business environment in which the Canadian investment funds industry operates.
Join the following session LIVE from the London Stock Exchange and listen to the presentations without leaving your office. What do investors need to understand as they start to buy into fixed income ETFs?
In our annual Mind the Gap study, we’ve updated our process for combining data for investor returns. The basic idea hasn’t changed: Compare asset-weighted internal rate of return calculations with category averages to see what was missed along the way. However, we’ve made three refinements aimed at more precisely capturing…
Risk management was top-of-mind for U.S. institutions in 2018 and will continue driving decisions for many of the participants in the annual Greenwich Associates U.S. ETF Study in the year ahead. Approximately 70% of all study respondents and nearly three-quarters of portfolio managers and chief investment officers rank “…
What’s the role of S&P 500® sectors in risk, pricing, and active returns? S&P DJI’s Tim Edwards joins Rebecca Chesworth of SPDR ETFs to explore how and why some investors are getting active with sectors.
How could index-based defined outcome strategies help advisors manage risk and align to client risk tolerance? S&P DJI’s Shaun Wurzbach joins Innovator ETFs’ Bruce Bond, and Milliman’s Adam Schenck and Matt Kaufman to discuss the potential role of S&P 500 buffer strategies as risk management tools.
We study tradeoffs among active mutual funds' characteristics. In both our equilibrium model and the data, funds with larger size, lower expense ratio, and higher turnover hold more-liquid portfolios. Portfolio liquidity, a concept introduced here, depends not only on the liquidity of the portfolio's holdings but…
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