Could a college student have a better idea for the next ETF than the Wall Street professionals? That is a possibility that Clear Indexes is betting on. The subsidiary of New York-based Clear Asset Management is running a contest giving students at three schools -- Columbia University, New York University and Lehigh University -- the opportunity to design a real ETF product. The winners will best explain the rationale behind their ETF’s investability and why investors would be drawn to it. The prize is a $4,000 and a paid internship with Clear Indexes.

---

Select college students will have the chance to show they have the investment savvy of a Warren Buffett and compete to win $4,000 and a paid internship with today’s launch of the “Clear Next Generation ETF Contest.” The contest, created by Clear Indexes, LLC, www.clearindexes.com, is seeking the most creative, original, marketable ETF ideas from students.

Clear Indexes creates custom indexes for investment product design and individually tailored benchmarks for institutions, family offices and trusts and endowments.

"The Clear ETF contest is the only one we’re aware of that lets students create an ETF concept for a real financial product,” said Andrew Corn, CEO of Clear Indexes. “It‘s the kind of hands-on experience you can never get sitting in a classroom."

The contest is timed to create product for the spring selling season when a large portion of financial products are purchased.

Open to full- and part-time students at Columbia University, New York University and Lehigh University, students in their contest entries need to explain the rationale behind their ETF’s investability and why investors would be drawn to it.

The contest is being run with the participation of professors, student activity offices and career development offices at the three universities.

"Clear Indexes' contest offers a great opportunity for our students to utilize the financial and marketing concepts learned in the classroom and fire up their creative juices by designing an ETF that is original and adds value in the marketplace,” said Richard J. Kish, chair of Lehigh University’s Perella Department of Finance. “It is just the type of contest that will energize a core group of students to test the marketplace in a risk-free environment.”

“We are confident that smart, investment-minded students at these leading schools will create differentiated ETF themes,” said Corn.

The contest winner will receive $4,000 and a paid internship for at least one semester at Clear Indexes that includes seeing the development of the ETF as an index, and participating in its launch at a bell ringing ceremony at an exchange on the ETF’s first trading day.

The contest is open to any student at one of the three schools with a valid e-mail address. Participants may submit up to five ETF ideas. Each theme must be described in detail, including its appeal to investors. Judges will examine each idea for uniqueness, differentiation, scalability and ease of explanation to investors.

In addition to the grand prize, two second prize winners will each receive $1,000, and 10 honorable mentions will also be given.

Winners will be chosen by Clear Indexes and its advisory board and will be announced on Facebook and via a press release. The deadline for submissions is November 26, 2007.

Clear Indexes expects to roll out the contest to additional leading schools in the future, said Corn.

Entry details can be found on Facebook and at www.ClearIndexes.com/Contest.

About Clear Indexes LLC

Clear Indexes LLC creates and publishes custom indexes using a combination of qualitative research and quantitative methods. Clear Indexes designs custom indexes to quantitatively measure specific market segments. The indexes are used for custom institutional benchmarks and investment product design. Clear Indexes is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clear Asset Management Inc. For more information, please see www.clearindexes.com and www.clearam.com. 

Edited by: Erin Kello


Stay ahead of the news ... Sign up for our email alerts now
CLICK HERE