EDHEC-Risk North American Index Survey 2011

Overall, the respondents to this survey represent approximately $12 trillion worth of assets under management (AUM) - around one third of all AUM in the North American asset management industry.

As the choice of an index is a crucial step in both asset allocation and performance measurement, it is useful to investigate index use and perceptions about indices. While information on index vehicles is widely available, particularly in the case of exchange-traded vehicles, the objective of the survey is to provide unique insight into the users' perspective in the index industry, not only including a description of the current practices, but also user perceptions on different indices and on benefits and drawbacks of index construction methodologies.

There is a growing body of research on index construction and index use. Recent studies assess current indices and also propose alternative approaches to construct indices.

This survey also serves as a tool to explore views of institutional index users on the conclusions of the literature in financial research.