InspereX sees index innovation reshaping structured investment solutions

InspereX is positioning itself to serve a broader range of adviser needs as structured investment strategies move across product wrappers, with custom indices emerging as a common engine for delivering income, growth and downside mitigation.

The best custom index isn't necessarily the most complex one, it's the one that can be translated into a compelling client conversation - Bob McDermott

The firm has been building out its distribution and product capabilities over recent months, including its move into the annuity market through a partnership with AuguStar and continued investment in its registered investment adviser (RIA) and private markets businesses. Its broader expansion has been accompanied by a push to grow adviser relationships and broaden its product suite under CEO Scott Mitchell.

For Bob McDermott, managing director and head of wealth management solutions product and partnerships at InspereX, the shift is changing the role of distributors, who are increasingly expected to help advisers translate client objectives into investment solutions rather than simply select products.

“Advisors don't need help finding products. They need help finding outcomes,” McDermott said.

Outcome design

Advisers continue to value straightforward investment narratives, McDermott said, even as they seek more sophisticated strategies to address specific portfolio objectives.

“The key is ensuring advisors understand the risks, expected behavior, and appropriate use cases for the solution,” he said. “Sophisticated strategies win when they're paired with simple stories.”

That places a premium on transparency and explainability when distributing custom strategy indices. McDermott said advisers are more likely to embrace complex strategies when they can clearly communicate how they work and where they fit within a portfolio.

“The best custom index isn't necessarily the most complex one, it's the one that can be translated into a compelling client conversation,” he said.

Historical performance analysis and stress testing also play an important role in that process, particularly as strategies move away from traditional market benchmarks. McDermott said such analysis should be used to understand how an index behaves across different market and economic environments, rather than as a prediction of future returns.

“Backtests shouldn't be used to predict outcomes, but they can be used to understand behavior,” he said.

Investment engines

Demand for income, downside mitigation, access to innovation and alternative exposures is increasingly driving interest in custom strategy indices, according to McDermott.

Advisers are not necessarily asking for bespoke indices themselves. Instead, they are seeking solutions to specific portfolio challenges, with custom indices providing a way to package those strategies into investable products.

The distinction is important as the same investment thesis can be delivered through structured notes, ETFs, annuities or separately managed accounts (SMAs).

“The real opportunity is creating investment intellectual property once and delivering it through multiple wrappers,” McDermott said.

He said this is also changing relationships between index providers, banks and distributors, with partners collaborating earlier in the product development process.

“Ten years ago, the product was often the differentiator. Increasingly, the index is becoming the differentiator,” he said.

InspereX’s expansion across wealth management and insurance distribution provides a backdrop to that shift. In April, the firm announced a partnership with AuguStar to make annuity products available through its distribution network, extending its reach into the insurance market.

The firm has also been strengthening its RIA and private markets teams through senior appointments and additional sales hires, while broadening its distribution capabilities. Those moves form part of a wider effort to expand its adviser-facing business and product offering.

Multiple wrappers

McDermott expects the relationship between structured products, ETFs and insurance solutions to become increasingly defined by the outcomes they deliver, rather than by the wrapper used to access them.

“The future isn't structured products versus ETFs versus insurance. The future is outcomes,” he said.

A custom strategy index, he added, can act as the underlying investment engine across different formats, with the wrapper determining how the strategy is delivered to investors.

The structured products market offers lessons for distributing these strategies, particularly around investor education. McDermott said the industry has demonstrated that sophisticated solutions can only scale when investors understand the purpose and risks of the products.

“Investors don't buy complexity; they buy solutions to real problems,” he said.

That challenge is likely to become more pronounced as custom indices move further beyond traditional benchmarks. McDermott said investors can mistakenly interpret them as measures of broad market performance, when their purpose is often to target a particular investment outcome.

“A traditional benchmark asks, ‘How did the market perform?’ A custom strategy index asks, ‘How do I achieve a desired outcome?’” he said.

For McDermott, the next phase of index innovation will therefore be less about creating additional benchmarks and more about developing investment strategies that can be adapted to different investor needs and delivered through multiple product structures.

“The wrapper may change, but the investment thesis remains the same,” he said.

This Q&A is published in full as a preview of the SRP Custom & Strategy Report 2026, which includes selected extracts from the interview.

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