Just do it? Cloning active managers is not common sense

A new twist to an age-old issue

I read with interest a recent Vanguard article on their Americanism of 'clonability'. It proposes that active managers can be synthesised by decomposing funds back through a returns-based strategic allocation factor analysis.

While I disagree in parts, I welcome any provider trying to expand the use of factors. It is a robust way to allocate assets and help when combining active and passive funds. It is important because of Vanguard's influence, having made itself the definitive Nike of our industry, through its 'V for Value' campaign. JB Beckett: Is a Great British bounce-back on the cards for UK fund firms? Aside from this, I thought Vanguard's Assessment of Value report was one of the best to date. Vanguard's advertorial leans on factor analysis to suggest that an investor can replicate any given act...