Goldman Sachs Plans Smart-beta, Hedge-fund-like ETFs

Goldman Sachs has signaled it's stepping up its efforts in the fast-growing, $2 trillion U.S. ETF industry. In a regulatory filing on Friday, the giant bank revealed plans for 11 exchange-traded funds that take smart-beta or hedge-fund-like approaches. The planned ETFs range from an "ActiveBeta" U.S. large-cap equity fund to an ETF that will follow a "Goldman Sachs Event Driven Hedge Fund Tracker Index," the filing shows. Goldman reportedly considered buying an ETF provider in October, and Reuters said the company in July shifted a key executive to help widen its product strategy for ETFs. Smart beta refers to an area of index investing that seeks to enhance returns or minimize risk relative to conventional market cap-weighted benchmarks.