Enhanced Index investing
Combine the benefits of active and passive equity investing
Key takeaways
Low-cost core market access
Explore enhanced index for cost-effective core equity exposure.
Systematic alpha potential
Quantitative investment approach targets consistent excess returns.
Experienced quants team
Over 20 years managing systematic investment strategies.
What is Enhanced Index investing?
Enhanced Index is a systematic investment approach blending the strengths of active and passive equity styles. Thanks to a quantitative investment process, Enhanced Index delivers the diversification and cost-efficiency of passive index funds, while aiming for active outperformance potential. Investors gain exposure to core markets such as global and US equities while targeting consistent returns with controlled risk.
What are the key benefits of Enhanced Index funds?
Core exposure
Seven core equity building blocks complement satellite strategies.
Target consistent returns
The funds aim to deliver incremental gains with potential to compound over time.
Cost-conscious
Competitive fees free up budget for complementary assets.
How does enhanced indexation work?
Each of our Enhanced Index strategies is based on an equity benchmark. Using a rules-based approach, we continuously evaluate every company in the index, with a focus on three key factors – Value, Quality and Momentum.
Beginning with index weights, stocks are adjusted by a multi-factor score. This quantitative process controls for sector, stock, and country concentration, as well as macro risks like artificial intelligence trends or inflation. Positions are updated as risk views evolve.
- Value: Is the stock attractively priced?
- Quality: Are the company's fundamentals strong?
- Momentum: Does the market favour the stock?
Why choose Aberdeen Investments for Enhanced Index?
Deep expertise
Over 20 years of quantitative investing and over a decade of Enhanced Index.
Disciplined process
Rules-based investments help minimise bias and aim to deliver consistent outcomes.
Proven performance
Index and peer outperformance with industry recognition and awards.
Innovative platform
Proprietary platform aims to boost returns and manage changing risks.
Funds in focus
Visit our fund centre to see all the funds we offer, or take a look at our focus funds below. Click on each fund to find out more about its objectives, past performance, and to access key literature.
Nick Millington
Head of Systematic Index Solutions
“Our Enhanced Index solutions follow systematic processes, clear rules, and data-driven decisions. This rigorous way of working helps to reduce bias and deliver consistency for our clients.”
Nick Millington
Head of Systematic Index Solutions
Hear more about Enhanced Index
Our systematic, rules-based Enhanced Index investment process targets consistent outcomes by mitigating the human biases involved in active investing. Watch our videos to learn more about our disciplined approach.
Systematic investing: demystifying the science behind smarter portfolios
Quant investing harnesses data, technology and disciplined processes to deliver consistent, transparent and adaptable outcomes. Here's how we approach the science behind smarter portfolios.
Your top ten factor based enhanced index FAQs
What are factors? What’s an enhanced index fund? We address your questions.
Key document
Fund ratings
Within the Enhanced Index range, six out of seven funds hold a 4* or 5* Morningstar ratings recognising it as an excellent product with a comprehensive range of features and benefits.
© 2025 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results.
Meet the team
Nick Millington
Head of Systematic Index Solutions
Anthony D'Silva
Senior Quantitative Investment Manager
James Fox
Quantitative Investment Director
Ross Olusanya
Quantitative Investment Director
Zhen Liu
Quantitative Investment DirectorEnhanced Index FAQs
Enhanced indexation blends active and passive investing styles. By combining the discipline of passive index investing with active multi-factor insights, Enhanced Index funds target cost-effective index outperformance.
Enhanced Index funds have the potential to deliver excess returns, unlike passive funds. They focus on cost-efficiency and aim to help investors diversify portfolios while reducing concentration risks versus passive funds.
Each style - Enhanced Index, passive, and active - has its place depending on investor needs. Sometimes all three are included in a portfolio. Enhanced Index allows investors to blend active and passive in one allocation.
Active funds can sharply outperform or underperform benchmarks, but fees can be high. Passive funds have low fees and their performance mirrors the benchmark. Enhanced Index portfolios blend active and passive approaches, aiming to modestly outperform benchmarks with diversified exposure to core equity markets.
Enhanced Index is a quantitative, data-led strategy. Managers systematically target positive return drivers or factors, blending index investing rigour with factor-driven quantitative insight for incremental outperformance at competitive fees.
Enhanced Index funds are designed to be cost-effective, and aim to deliver steady gains with the potential to compound over time. These funds can play the role of core equity building blocks, freeing up budget for complementary, higher cost, high-conviction strategies, like smaller companies, thematics, and alternatives.
