Solactive and Indiggo Launch Systematic Leadership Index for U.S. Large-Cap Equities

Index provider Solactive has partnered with corporate leadership analytics firm Indiggo to introduce a new equity benchmark designed to convert leadership quality into an investable strategy. The collaboration has resulted in the launch of the Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership® US Large Cap Index, a rules-based index that systematically selects and weights companies based on quantified leadership performance rather than traditional financial metrics alone.

The launch reflects growing investor interest in alternative factors and thematic strategies that go beyond balance sheets and earnings forecasts. As markets become more complex and competitive advantages harder to sustain, leadership quality is increasingly viewed as a driver of , organisational resilience, and strategic execution.

The new index is designed to serve as the underlying benchmark for investment products, with Wedbush Fund Advisers, LLC already filing a registration statement for the first platform-traded fund tracking the Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership® US Large Cap Index.

Translating Leadership Into a Rules-Based Investment Factor

The Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership® US Large Cap Index draws its universe from the Solactive GBS United States 500 Index. From this broad large-cap universe, the index selects the 50 companies with the highest ReturnOnLeadership® (ROL®) scores, a proprietary leadership metric developed by Indiggo.

Unlike conventional equity indices that weight constituents by market capitalisation, this index applies weights based on ROL® scores. This approach intentionally tilts exposure toward companies that demonstrate stronger leadership characteristics, as measured by Indiggo’s analytics framework, rather than simply favouring the largest firms by size.

The index is reviewed and rebalanced on a quarterly basis, ensuring that constituent selection and weighting reflect the most current leadership assessments and remain aligned with the underlying methodology.

According to Solactive, the index is intended to offer investors a diverseiated thematic exposure within the U.S. large-cap equity space, positioning leadership quality as a systematic, repeatable investment factor rather than a subjective narrative.

Takeaway

Quantifying Leadership With AI-Driven Analytics

Indiggo brings to the partnership its ReturnOnLeadership® framework, an AI-driven model designed to objectively measure corporate leadership quality. The ROL® score evaluates companies across four core dimensions: connection to purpose, strategic clarity, leadership alignment, and focused action.

The model integrates both structured and unstructured data sources, enabling Indiggo to capture signals that may not be reflected in financial statements alone. These signals are intended to provide insight into how effectively leadership teams align strategy, culture, and execution across an organisation.

By translating these qualitative attributes into a systematic score, Indiggo aims to make leadership measurable and comparable across companies and sectors, allowing it to be incorporated into index construction and portfolio design.

Janeen Gelbart, Chief Executive Officer at Indiggo, said the partnership provides investors with a new way to access what she described as an enduring driver of performance. “We are excited to collaborate with Solactive to provide investors with a way to invest in the eternal factor of leadership,” Gelbart said. “Today, leadership is more critical than ever, as evidenced by the strong outcomes the ReturnOnLeadership® index generates.”

Indiggo positions its analytics as complementary to traditional financial analysis, offering an additional lens through which investors can evaluate organisational quality and long-term execution capability.

Takeaway

Solactive Expands Thematic and Factor-Based Indexing

For Solactive, the collaboration represents its first partnership with Indiggo and an expansion of its thematic and factor-based index offering. The firm has increasingly focused on developing indices that reflect evolving investor preferences, including sustainability, innovation, and alternative drivers of performance.

Steffen Scheuble, Chief Executive Officer at Solactive, said the partnership brings structure and transparency to a concept that has traditionally been hard to quantify. “Our collaboration with Indiggo brings a new level of transparency and structure to the concept of leadership, transforming it into a measurable factor that can inform the design of strategies,” Scheuble said.

He added that the launch aligns with Solactive’s broader strategic direction. “This partnership also underscores Solactive’s ongoing commitment to delivering innovative indexing answers that respond to the evolving needs of our clients and the broader investment landscape,” Scheuble said.

Solactive noted that leadership quality is increasingly being considered by asset managers and allocators viewking diverseiated sources of return and risk management, particularly in markets where traditional valuation metrics may offer limited insight into future performance.

By formalising leadership into an index methodology, Solactive aims to provide a transparent, rules-based answer that can be easily adopted within .

Takeaway

ETF Filing Signals ahead Market Interest

The filing by Wedbush Fund Advisers, LLC for an ETF tracking the Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership® US Large Cap Index highlights ahead interest from the asset management community in leadership-focused strategies.

While financial details of the proposed ETF have not yet been disclosed, the move suggests that demand exists for investment products that systematically incorporate non-traditional corporate attributes. Leadership-based investing has historically been hard to implement at scale due to its qualitative nature, making the availability of a transparent benchmark a key development.

Market participants note that the success of such products will likely depend on how well leadership metrics perform across market cycles and whether they deliver diverseiated risk-adjusted returns compared with traditional factor strategies.

As factor investing continues to evolve, the introduction of leadership as an investable theme reflects a broader trend toward blending behavioural, organisational, and cultural insights with quantitative portfolio construction.

The Solactive Indiggo ReturnOnLeadership® US Large Cap Index enters a market where investors are increasingly viewking strategies that capture intangible drivers of corporate performance, particularly in an environment marked by , geopolitical uncertainty, and shifting workforce dynamics.

Takeaway

As thematic and factor-based investing continues to diversify, the Solactive–Indiggo collaboration highlights how data science and AI are expanding the boundaries of what can be measured, indexed, and ultimately invested. Whether leadership proves to be a durable and scalable factor will be tested over time, but the launch marks a notable step in translating corporate behaviour into systematic investment exposure.