Deutsche Bank launches ETF of hedge funds

Deutsche Bank has launched an exchange-traded fund (ETF) giving investors direct access to hedge funds through a managed account platform for the first time. The product was scheduled for release in January but had been delayed.

The fund tracks the DB Hedge Fund Index, which reflects the performance of a number of hedge fund strategies on a three-day time delay. The strategies are weighted in accordance with their prevalence in the industry and include equity hedge, market neutral, credit and convertible arbitrage, systematic macro and event-driven strategies.

In the global hedge fund industry's worst year, back-tested returns on the index were -9.19% for 2008. Between March 2007 and February 2009, the euro-denominated