ETF providers look to alternative beta

Alternatively-weighted indexes are attracting more and more attention from ETF providers. So far this year Ossiam, PowerShares and State Street have listed ETFs that provide exposure to equities weighted to minimise risk, capture high beta, and increase dividend exposure, writes Hannah Collins

Indexes with alternative weightings are increasingly in vogue

The PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF, which was listed in May 2011, attracted the highest monthly inflows of any exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed last year. "Typically for this type of product it takes several years to gather significant assets, but this has got $1.5 billion in just over 10 months," says Xiaowei Kang, London-based director of index research and design at S&P Indices.

Now other providers are following suit. Several new ETFs tracking low volatility indexes have already been