By Andrew D. Beer, Managing Partner of Dynamic Beta Investments.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management recently filed a registration statement for an alternative ETF that follows a time-tested investment strategy: hedge fund replication. This new ETF comes roughly a decade after Goldman launched a replication-based mutual fund, the Goldman Sachs Absolute Return Tracker (GJRTX) – a mutual fund that has outperformed the HFRX Global Investable Hedge Fund Index (the standard benchmark for many liquid alts products) by 248 bps per annum.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched a new ETF on NYSE Arca. The Goldman Sachs JUST US Large Cap Equity ETF (JUST US) provides broad exposure to US large-cap equities, with a focus on companies that outperform on all major environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues critical to the American people.

Investment research firm Morningstar has published the latest instalment of its ETF Managed Portfolios Landscape Report. The report, which covers the third-quarter of 2017, found that total assets under management in the ETF managed portfolios segment increased 7.5% to $115.0 billion. Vanguard retained its position at the top of the mountain with over $9.1bn in AUM across 44 strategies.

By Dr Peter Hopkins, principal, Style Research.

There are lots of ways to entice people into parting with their money – and attractive packaging and descriptions are near the top of the list. ETFs are no exception to the aggressive marketing taking place; neither are the factors that are often used to calibrate the performance of these investments. But can you really trust the products? And what should you look out for?

ETF providers have taken the top three places in a ranking of global asset managers by assets under management (AUM), according to research from risk management and investment consultants Willis Towers Watson.

Goldman Sachs has introduced the Goldman Sachs Equal Weight US Large Cap Equity ETF (Bats: GSEW) which provides access to the 500 largest US-listed equities while mitigating some of the biases inherent in traditional market cap-weighted indices.

The ongoing price war in smart beta ETF fees has the potential to negatively impact the credit ratings of traditional active asset managers as well as smart beta ETF providers, according to credit rating agency Moody’s.

Solactive has launched the Solactive US Large Cap Equal Weight Index, a new index that tracks an equal weight exposure to the US large-cap equity segment. The index will include the 500 largest US-domiciled equities and will underlie the forthcoming Goldman Sachs Equal Weight US Large Cap Equity ETF (Bats: GSEW). Steffen Scheuble, CEO of Solactive, said: “We’re excited to once again serve as an index provider to Goldman Sachs through the creation of such a timely and unique index.”

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has launched the Goldman Sachs Access High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE Arca: GHYB), offering smart beta exposure to US dollar-denominated high yield corporate bond markets.

Guggenheim Investments has halved the management fee charged on its $13bn S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (NYSE Arca: RSP), from 0.40% to 0.20% in a bid to position itself as one of the lowest cost providers of smart beta ETF strategies. Douglas Mangini, head of intermediary distribution at Guggenheim, commented: “This significant fee reduction is designed to benefit existing shareholders and acknowledge the increasing use of RSP by institutional and individual investors as a core equity holding.”