Goldman Sachs Launches Quant-Driven International ETF

Goldman Sachs Asset Management introduced the Goldman Sachs Data Enhanced International Equity ETF (GIEQ) in May. The fund applies quantitative models and AI-based analysis to select stocks and carries a 30-basis-point fee.

The strategy was presented during an industry webinar in May and was shown as part of the firm’s quantitative investing lineup. GSAM describes GIEQ as a broadly positioned international equity fund that limits tracking error and emphasizes intentional stock selection to avoid style drift.

GSAM’s Quantitative Investment Strategies team forms daily investment views across more than 15,000 stocks. The group evaluates over 300 company characteristics, combining traditional fundamental analysis with machine learning and other quantitative tools run at scale.

Sarah Rich, lead client portfolio manager for the Quantitative Investment Strategies team, said, “Investing systematically, we can take this large number of small bets. And what that helps us do is it reduces our overall underperformance risk while still exposing us to diversified sources of potential outperformance.” Rich also noted the team is guided by “hundreds of proprietary drivers of return” and draws on about 15 years of work with AI techniques.

Elias Vanik, ETF investment strategist at GSAM, described an evolution in the ETF market and highlighted recent flows. He said that in the first half of 2026 flows into ETFs exceeded the same period in 2025 by about 80 percent. According to Vanik, active ETFs represent roughly 13 percent of total ETF assets but accounted for 38 percent of flows and nearly 90 percent of new launches in that period.

GSAM said the QIS team spreads many small, systematic bets across a broad opportunity set to control downside risk while seeking diversified sources of return. The firm contrasted its current use of more than 300 company dimensions with the fewer than 15 metrics commonly used in the late 1980s.

GIEQ was launched in May and is presented by GSAM as a data-enhanced active option for investors seeking international equity exposure within an ETF structure. The firm discussed the fund alongside its broader quantitative offerings during the webinar.