Is it Smart, Strategic or Advanced?

摘要

Smart beta has become the term accepted by the marketplace for indexes that are not cap weighted, or more specifically, for alternative ways to gain exposure to the market based on risk factors or market segmentation techniques. However, the tag remains a controversial choice. "We don't believe there's an industry standard," says Sara Shores at BlackRock. "The term 'strategic beta' better describes the products and strategies we've developed that seek to deliver exposure to the factors that are long-term drivers of asset class returns." Other terms include advanced beta, engineered equity, factor indexes, alternatively weighted indexes, and many others. "Smart beta is an unfortunate and provocative term," says Lynn Blake at SSgA. "We call it advanced beta, or alternative beta, which are true to what these strategies represent." She explains that it implies that anything other than a non-cap weighted approach isn't smart. "The terra smart beta suggests that a cap-weighted portfolio is not relevant, and it very much is," says Lyxor's Francois Millet. Cap-weighted beta forms the basis of most benchmarks, it remains central to many investing strategies, and is the only portfolio that everyone can hold. "We prefer the term 'engineered equity,'" says Matt Peron at Northern Trust, It captures what we're trying to do with compensated risk factors-engineer them in or engineer them out."