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Historically, index providers have acted less like a partner and more like a vendor: they license benchmarks, calculate returns, publish methodologies, and execute rebalances. But as competition intensifies, these basic services are no longer enough.
High-performing index providers actively contribute to a product’s success. They collaborate on digital marketing, support distribution, offer rapid backtesting, and offer proprietary data and analytics.
Today there are more than 4,000 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) competing for assets, and 81% fail to reach $1 billion in AUM. That means asset managers need every advantage available - which is why finding the right index partner will make the difference in whether your product struggles or finds success.
Traditional index licensing was a straightforward, set-it-and-forget-it vendor relationship. Asset managers would license a benchmark and the provider would handle methodology maintenance and occasional rebalancing.
Some providers offered backtesting support during product development, but the ongoing relationship was mostly passive. Once an ETF launched, the provider’s role became administrative: execute the rebalance, publish the constituent list, and invoice the licensing fee.
Active index partnerships are different. Not only do they provide faster backtesting, but they also keep working to support a product’s success. This means offering an expanded suite of services that address the actual challenges asset managers face when launching and scaling an ETF.
Active services include:
Depth of coverage across asset classes: Asset managers building diverse product lineups need partners with expertise across fixed income, international equities, alternatives, and emerging asset classes. Broad coverage ensures consistent methodology and support across product suites.
These services come with cost and implementation considerations. Not every asset manager needs every service, and there are legitimate scenarios where traditional licensing is still the most appropriate model – especially for straightforward, commoditized index strategies.
The trick is understanding which services are best for your particular product strategy and growth goals, then choosing partners accordingly.
Launching an ETF is a challenge, but scaling it to sustainable AUM levels is even more demanding. Top index providers differentiate themselves by providing specialized services that actively support asset managers throughout the ETF lifecycle.
Here’s a closer look at how these specialized services advance asset managers’ goals.
Product development requires extensive testing to validate investment hypotheses before committing regulatory and marketing resources to a launch. Backtesting reveals how a proposed strategy would have performed across different market cycles, providing critical insights into risk characteristics, return profiles, and behavior during stress periods.
While backtesting is fundamentally a mathematical exercise, the process can be frustratingly slow with traditional providers. Delays of days or weeks between backtest results extend product development timelines and limit the number of iterations teams can explore.
Responsive index partners dramatically accelerate this process. While the turnaround on backtests varies based on their complexity, VettaFi has a state of the art, cloud-based backtest engine, Index Factory, that can iterate results very quickly and easily integrate third party data sources to help accelerate speed to market. This enables rapid prototyping, allowing asset managers to test several different versions of a strategy to identify what works, adjust what doesn’t, and iterate quickly.
Faster iteration means better products. Development teams can explore more potential solutions, pressure-test edge cases, and refine methodologies before launch. That increases the probability the final product will appeal strongly to advisors and investors alike.
Historical data quality and breadth fundamentally determine what products can be built and how effectively they can be tested. Asset managers limited to standard market data may find themselves unable to fully realize unique investment theses or adequately backtest strategies involving less liquid asset classes.
Access to proprietary datasets opens new product possibilities. Specialized data covering fixed income, international markets, alternatives, or thematic segments allows asset managers to build and validate differentiated strategies that would be impossible with generic data sources alone.
VettaFi’s data capabilities significantly expanded with the acquisition of indices from Credit Suisse. As Chief Product Officer Brian Coco explained:
“These indices are widely recognized for their quality and utility, and we are excited to now offer them under the VettaFi brand. Coupled with our new, intuitive index builder workbench, we are empowering asset managers and financial professionals with unparalleled control and flexibility in their product strategies.”
The platform provides access to 25+ years of historical data across equity and fixed income asset classes including specialty data sets in areas such as MLPs, Closed End Funds (CEFs), BDCs, REITS and ADRs.
Beyond index data, VettaFi’s Investor Behavioral Intelligence Platform provides more than 10 years of advisor engagement data, which helps asset managers pinpoint the best products and strategies for their target audience.
Even exceptional products struggle to gather assets if advisors and investors don’t know they exist. The challenge is particularly acute for new ETFs from smaller or emerging asset managers who lack established brand recognition and distribution relationships.
Building advisor awareness traditionally requires significant time and capital investment, such as conference attendance, wholesaler teams, direct outreach campaigns, and paid advertising. For new products, this marketing spend comes at a time when revenue is lowest, adding another challenge to the financial equation.
Index providers with established financial advisor networks and content platforms can provide immediate access to qualified audiences. VettaFi’s portfolio of ETF-focused publications - including ETF Trends, ETFdb, ETF Stream, and Advisor Perspectives - attracts more than 1 million unique visitors a month and has cultivated a community of 68,000+ social media subscribers. More than 100,000 financial advisors register for VettaFi webinars annually.
These platforms serve two purposes:
Through symposiums and webcasts that help advisors maintain CE certifications, VettaFi gathers insights into which strategies and product characteristics advisors are actively researching, providing partners with intelligence that shapes product positioning and marketing messaging.
Financial advisors increasingly rely on digital research when evaluating new investment solutions. As advisors monitor AI disruptions, regulatory changes, and market news, they research online and consume podcasts, videos, and other content. Bloomberg’s Future Focus: Financial Advisors in a Changing Landscape study revealed that 36% of advisors were checking financial news and seeking expert analysis more frequently than they were three years ago. Yet most asset managers, especially smaller firms, lack the digital infrastructure to reach advisors in these channels.
You need ongoing content production, social media management, SEO optimization, and audience development to build a meaningful digital presence. Sometimes, that means diverting resources from core investment functions for however long it takes to achieve significant organic reach, typically 18-24 months.
By contrast, VettaFi’s established digital ecosystem provides immediate access to engaged audiences. Paul Baiocchi, CFA, the Head of Fund Sales & Strategy at SS&C ALPS Advisors said, “VettaFi has become an extension of ALPS Advisors, and in a way it’s a massive part of our digital distribution strategy as we try and engage with advisors in various formats and platforms.” Over the course of the last three years of partnership with VettaFi, ALP Advisors has gathered over $3B in AUM.
Our approach ensures asset managers achieve day-one visibility, accelerating the path from product launch to AUM growth.
The index provider landscape has plenty of capable firms, but not all partnerships are created equal. Here’s how asset managers can evaluate potential partners to find the perfect fit.
A partner with deep knowledge of the specific markets you’re addressing (whether fixed income, international equities, thematic strategies, or alternatives) will provide more valuable guidance throughout product development and bring more credibility with advisors.
If your firm has a strong marketing team but limited data infrastructure, prioritize providers with robust proprietary data and analytics. If distribution is your primary challenge, focus on partners with established advisor networks and content platforms.
The most valuable partnerships involve regular collaboration and quick turnaround on requests. VettaFi’s approach centers on end-to-end partnership, providing integrated solutions across indexing, marketing, data, and distribution rather than expecting asset managers to piece together services from different vendors.
Advisors are more likely to trust and recommend products built on recognized, respected index methodologies.
Expanded services command premium pricing, but for products with strong potential, the investment in a differentiated partner can deliver returns far exceeding the incremental cost.
Looking to build your next product with a modern index partner that’s more than just a benchmark?
Contact us now to learn what active support throughout your product’s lifecycle can look like.
Historically, index providers have acted less like a partner and more like a vendor: they license benchmarks, calculate returns, publish methodologies, and execute rebalances. But as competition intensifies, these basic services are no longer enough.
High-performing index providers actively contribute to a product’s success. They collaborate on digital marketing, support distribution, offer rapid backtesting, and offer proprietary data and analytics.
Today there are more than 4,000 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) competing for assets, and 81% fail to reach $1 billion in AUM. That means asset managers need every advantage available - which is why finding the right index partner will make the difference in whether your product struggles or finds success.
Traditional index licensing was a straightforward, set-it-and-forget-it vendor relationship. Asset managers would license a benchmark and the provider would handle methodology maintenance and occasional rebalancing.
Some providers offered backtesting support during product development, but the ongoing relationship was mostly passive. Once an ETF launched, the provider’s role became administrative: execute the rebalance, publish the constituent list, and invoice the licensing fee.
Active index partnerships are different. Not only do they provide faster backtesting, but they also keep working to support a product’s success. This means offering an expanded suite of services that address the actual challenges asset managers face when launching and scaling an ETF.
Active services include:
Depth of coverage across asset classes: Asset managers building diverse product lineups need partners with expertise across fixed income, international equities, alternatives, and emerging asset classes. Broad coverage ensures consistent methodology and support across product suites.
These services come with cost and implementation considerations. Not every asset manager needs every service, and there are legitimate scenarios where traditional licensing is still the most appropriate model – especially for straightforward, commoditized index strategies.
The trick is understanding which services are best for your particular product strategy and growth goals, then choosing partners accordingly.
Launching an ETF is a challenge, but scaling it to sustainable AUM levels is even more demanding. Top index providers differentiate themselves by providing specialized services that actively support asset managers throughout the ETF lifecycle.
Here’s a closer look at how these specialized services advance asset managers’ goals.
Product development requires extensive testing to validate investment hypotheses before committing regulatory and marketing resources to a launch. Backtesting reveals how a proposed strategy would have performed across different market cycles, providing critical insights into risk characteristics, return profiles, and behavior during stress periods.
While backtesting is fundamentally a mathematical exercise, the process can be frustratingly slow with traditional providers. Delays of days or weeks between backtest results extend product development timelines and limit the number of iterations teams can explore.
Responsive index partners dramatically accelerate this process. While the turnaround on backtests varies based on their complexity, VettaFi has a state of the art, cloud-based backtest engine, Index Factory, that can iterate results very quickly and easily integrate third party data sources to help accelerate speed to market. This enables rapid prototyping, allowing asset managers to test several different versions of a strategy to identify what works, adjust what doesn’t, and iterate quickly.
Faster iteration means better products. Development teams can explore more potential solutions, pressure-test edge cases, and refine methodologies before launch. That increases the probability the final product will appeal strongly to advisors and investors alike.
Historical data quality and breadth fundamentally determine what products can be built and how effectively they can be tested. Asset managers limited to standard market data may find themselves unable to fully realize unique investment theses or adequately backtest strategies involving less liquid asset classes.
Access to proprietary datasets opens new product possibilities. Specialized data covering fixed income, international markets, alternatives, or thematic segments allows asset managers to build and validate differentiated strategies that would be impossible with generic data sources alone.
VettaFi’s data capabilities significantly expanded with the acquisition of indices from Credit Suisse. As Chief Product Officer Brian Coco explained:
“These indices are widely recognized for their quality and utility, and we are excited to now offer them under the VettaFi brand. Coupled with our new, intuitive index builder workbench, we are empowering asset managers and financial professionals with unparalleled control and flexibility in their product strategies.”
The platform provides access to 25+ years of historical data across equity and fixed income asset classes including specialty data sets in areas such as MLPs, Closed End Funds (CEFs), BDCs, REITS and ADRs.
Beyond index data, VettaFi’s Investor Behavioral Intelligence Platform provides more than 10 years of advisor engagement data, which helps asset managers pinpoint the best products and strategies for their target audience.
Even exceptional products struggle to gather assets if advisors and investors don’t know they exist. The challenge is particularly acute for new ETFs from smaller or emerging asset managers who lack established brand recognition and distribution relationships.
Building advisor awareness traditionally requires significant time and capital investment, such as conference attendance, wholesaler teams, direct outreach campaigns, and paid advertising. For new products, this marketing spend comes at a time when revenue is lowest, adding another challenge to the financial equation.
Index providers with established financial advisor networks and content platforms can provide immediate access to qualified audiences. VettaFi’s portfolio of ETF-focused publications - including ETF Trends, ETFdb, ETF Stream, and Advisor Perspectives - attracts more than 1 million unique visitors a month and has cultivated a community of 68,000+ social media subscribers. More than 100,000 financial advisors register for VettaFi webinars annually.
These platforms serve two purposes:
Through symposiums and webcasts that help advisors maintain CE certifications, VettaFi gathers insights into which strategies and product characteristics advisors are actively researching, providing partners with intelligence that shapes product positioning and marketing messaging.
Financial advisors increasingly rely on digital research when evaluating new investment solutions. As advisors monitor AI disruptions, regulatory changes, and market news, they research online and consume podcasts, videos, and other content. Bloomberg’s Future Focus: Financial Advisors in a Changing Landscape study revealed that 36% of advisors were checking financial news and seeking expert analysis more frequently than they were three years ago. Yet most asset managers, especially smaller firms, lack the digital infrastructure to reach advisors in these channels.
You need ongoing content production, social media management, SEO optimization, and audience development to build a meaningful digital presence. Sometimes, that means diverting resources from core investment functions for however long it takes to achieve significant organic reach, typically 18-24 months.
By contrast, VettaFi’s established digital ecosystem provides immediate access to engaged audiences. Paul Baiocchi, CFA, the Head of Fund Sales & Strategy at SS&C ALPS Advisors said, “VettaFi has become an extension of ALPS Advisors, and in a way it’s a massive part of our digital distribution strategy as we try and engage with advisors in various formats and platforms.” Over the course of the last three years of partnership with VettaFi, ALP Advisors has gathered over $3B in AUM.
Our approach ensures asset managers achieve day-one visibility, accelerating the path from product launch to AUM growth.
The index provider landscape has plenty of capable firms, but not all partnerships are created equal. Here’s how asset managers can evaluate potential partners to find the perfect fit.
A partner with deep knowledge of the specific markets you’re addressing (whether fixed income, international equities, thematic strategies, or alternatives) will provide more valuable guidance throughout product development and bring more credibility with advisors.
If your firm has a strong marketing team but limited data infrastructure, prioritize providers with robust proprietary data and analytics. If distribution is your primary challenge, focus on partners with established advisor networks and content platforms.
The most valuable partnerships involve regular collaboration and quick turnaround on requests. VettaFi’s approach centers on end-to-end partnership, providing integrated solutions across indexing, marketing, data, and distribution rather than expecting asset managers to piece together services from different vendors.
Advisors are more likely to trust and recommend products built on recognized, respected index methodologies.
Expanded services command premium pricing, but for products with strong potential, the investment in a differentiated partner can deliver returns far exceeding the incremental cost.
Looking to build your next product with a modern index partner that’s more than just a benchmark?
Contact us now to learn what active support throughout your product’s lifecycle can look like.
