Smart Beta: Easier Investing for Investors
- in response to recent market volatility, UBS is focusing on smart beta optimisation solutions to meet investor demand for strategic asset allocation. Natalia Naber, global head of intermediaries...
- Smart beta strategies, a type of quantitative investment strategy, allow investors to navigate unpredictable markets.
- Naber said smart beta strategies have been especially successful in Asia, where investors seek exposure to U.S.
Navigate market volatility with UBS’s strategic shift! discover how UBS is leveraging smart beta solutions too enhance asset allocation and meet evolving investor demands. This innovative approach, driven by increased interest from Asian investors seeking US market exposure, incorporates refined volatility control features. learn how UBS, in collaboration with experts, is offering specialized products like gold-linked investments to manage risk and improve returns across diverse asset classes. News Directory 3 keeps you informed on the latest strategies aimed at simplifying and expanding market access for investors. See what’s next for smart beta innovations.
Updated May 29, 2025
in response to recent market volatility, UBS is focusing on smart beta optimisation solutions to meet investor demand for strategic asset allocation. Natalia Naber, global head of intermediaries dynamic strategies sales at UBS, noted increased interest in products with refined volatility control features.
Smart beta strategies, a type of quantitative investment strategy, allow investors to navigate unpredictable markets. These strategies can be applied across various asset classes, including equities, fixed income, and commodities.
Naber said smart beta strategies have been especially successful in Asia, where investors seek exposure to U.S. markets while managing risk. She added that UBS is working closely with Asian clients to provide suitable investment products for 2025, with smart beta as a core component.
To address market volatility, UBS launched a volatility control equities product in partnership with Nobel laureate Robert Engle. This product uses forward-looking indicators to rebalance intraday, aiming to monetize volatility and improve risk-adjusted returns. The product also features a capital return component.
UBS is expanding its smart beta offerings to include Nasdaq indexes and is exploring further scaling across liquid indexes suitable for high-frequency trading. The firm also offers a commodities smart beta product providing exposure to physical gold with a regular income stream, utilizing derivative overlays.
“We have been spending a lot of time over the past six months looking at how we can offer a broader spectrum of investors more than the typical vanilla payoffs they may be used to,” Naber said.
Another popular UBS solution involves commodities, offering exposure to physical gold alongside income. This product uses derivatives to monetize volatility within the asset class.
UBS also collaborates with third parties to develop actively diminished indexes, particularly popular in Europe and Asia. Lin Qian, Asia-Pacific head of QIS structuring, highlighted the fixed-index endowment (FIE) product launched by Prudential in Singapore, linked to UBS’s Multi asset Strategy Tactical Rotation Index.
Christine Wang, co-head of global market distribution, Apac at UBS, noted the increasing use of QIS in structured products for professional investors. UBS aims to simplify its product offerings and focus on distribution, emphasizing the versatility of smart beta.
“Looking at the flows coming into UBS Wealth Management, we see that a lot of people want to allocate to US equities, but they are worried about current risk levels. So we took the methodology developed by Professor Engle more than 20 years ago and incorporated it into our smart beta products,” Naber said.
What’s next
UBS anticipates further growth in its QIS business through smart beta distribution agreements, focusing on simplifying products and expanding market access.