New Families of Indices Launched for Institutional Investors

IndexIQ has launched a series of new families of indices for institutional and high net worth investors.

According to a press release, the IndexIQ products employ quantitative measures and multiple screens based on the firm’s research and methodologies to capture the value of core corporate and market attributes that frequently are undervalued in equity analysis. The indices are designed to combine the risk-adjusted performance characteristics of the best active managers with the traditional benefits of passive indexing, including rules-based methodologies, low turnover, diversification, liquidity, tax efficiency and low portfolio management costs.

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IndexIQ’s families of indices are designed with methodologies incorporating a full range of investment strategies. IndexIQ’s products are rigorously back-tested over a 15-year timeframe and have demonstrated both consistently higher returns and, in many cases, lower volatility and other favorable characteristics relative to traditional indexes such as the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000, according to the press release. Among the statistics measured and tracked over multiple years are Alpha, Sharpe Ratio, R-Squared, Beta and Volatility.



“There is substantial and growing interest on the part of institutions and high net worth investors in new ways of indexing as a high value investment strategy,” said Adam Patti, Chief Executive Officer of IndexIQ, in the release. “These products are increasingly recognized as offering many of the benefits of traditional, passive indexes, such as low turnover and tax efficiency, with the greater potential for outperforming the broader market on a risk-adjusted basis.”

More information can be found at www.indexiq.com.

First Charter Lets Go of Recordkeeping Unit

First Charter Corporation announced on Monday it has sold Southeastern Employee Benefits Services (SEBS), part of the Wealth Management division of First Charter Bank which provides recordkeeping and administrative functions for retirement plans.
At the request of the purchaser, and to respect its wishes, Charlotte, North Carolina-based First Charter would not reveal the purchaser’s identity. However, Kevin Toomb, Executive Vice President, Director of Corporate Communications at First Charter Corporation, told PLANADVISER.com the purchaser is a large, nationally-known, well-respected firm which is not a bank and is not located in North Carolina.

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Toomb also said the purchaser does have a desire to grow business at SEBS. Employees of SEBS, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, were notified of the deal, which closed on Friday, via a meeting with the purchaser, according to Toombs.

In the First Charter announcement, John Allen, Senior Vice President and Director of the Wealth Management division at First Charter, said the firm will continue to use SEBS as the strategic recordkeeping partner for its Wealth Management clients.

The sale of SEBS is expected to result in a pre-tax gain of approximately $0.9 million for First Charter and will be recorded in the fourth quarter of 2006, the announcement said.

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