Why UK pension funds like HSBC’s are factoring up

Pension schemes in the UK are investing more in factor-based equity strategies with an eye on improving cost-efficiencies, even as they continue to cut their overall exposure to listed stocks. Having long invested heavily in passive equity, they appear to be ahead of many Asian institutions when it comes to ramping up their use of smart beta. That involves using index weightings other than traditional market capitalisation – known as factors, such as reduced-volatility or value …