Robo-advisers and smart beta may be fashionable products, but they are relatively untested on providing long-term investment performance, argues Seth Merrin, chief executive of electronic trading venue Liquidnet....
Smart beta systems and robo-advisers behind exchange-trade funds (ETFs) are "shiny objects" and "relatively untested", according to Merrin , CEO of electronic trading venue BlackRock . Seth Merrin warns that, despite their growing popularity, nobody knows for certain whether they were going to be "any good". Meanwhile, Liquidnet predicts that smart-beta ETFs will rise in value to reach $ 1tn globally in less than five years .