MSCI

MSCI Inc. (formerly Morgan Stanley Capital International) is an American finance company headquartered in New York City. MSCI is a global provider of equity, fixed income, real estate indices, multi-asset portfolio analysis tools, ESG and climate finance products. It operates the MSCI World, MSCI Emerging Markets, and MSCI All Country World (ACWI) indices, among others.

The company is headquartered at 7 World Trade Center in Manhattan. Its business primarily consists of licensing its indices to index funds, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which pay a fee of around 0.02 to 0.04 percent of the invested volume for the use of the index.[2] As of 2025, funds worth over US$16.5 trillion were based on MSCI indices.[3]

History

In 1968, Capital International published indices covering the global stock market for non-U.S. markets.

Indices

The MSCI global equity indices have been calculated since 1969 and include MSCI World[26] and MSCI EAFE.[27] Initially, the company used eight factors in developing its indices: momentum, volatility, value, size, growth, size nonlinearity, liquidity, and financial leverage.[28]

Inclusion of Chinese A-shares

In 2018 MSCI began including Chinese A-shares in its MSCI Emerging Markets Index.[29] Initially the domestic Chinese companies received a 5% weighting in the index. MSCI is the last major index provider to include the companies, but some investors have questioned the risk as many Chinese listed companies refuse to permit the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to inspect their financial records. The action of including Chinese stocks into MSCI EM Index also received criticism and questions from Senator Marco Rubio and some others regarding the U.S. national security.[30][31][32][33]

In February 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported the decision was the result of pressure from the Chinese government according to people familiar with the matter.[34] The New York Times reported that "The Chinese government long sought MSCI inclusion because it could help establish Shanghai and Shenzhen as global financial centers."[35] MSCI chief executive and chairman Henry Fernandez stated there was "zero politics" behind the decision.[33] In March 2019, CNBC reported that MSCI have a future plan of inclusion based on market capitalization of mainland Chinese shares in its global benchmarks,[36] which will eventually lead to ca. 40% weights of its global emerging markets index.[37][38]

In April 2020, it was reported that Donald Trump was considering an executive action to prohibit the Thrift Savings Plan from transferring $50 billion to mirror the MSCI All Country World Index fund.[39] In December 2020, MSCI announced that it would strip its indices of seven Chinese companies in response to Executive Order 13959.[40][41]

Although the A share full inclusion plan was noted by investors years ago, full inclusion had not been realized as of 2021.[42]

In November 2022, a study by Sheffield Hallam University and Hong Kong Watch identified three major stock indices provided by MSCI that include at least 13 companies allegedly involved in forced labor and mass surveillance of Uyghurs.[43]

In August 2023, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party announced an investigation into MSCI's investments in China.[44] The committee concluded that MSCI channeled $3.7 billion into blacklisted entities in 2023.[45]

type	Public
traded as	nyse: MSCI S&P 500 component
foundation	1968
hq location	7 World Trade Center
location city	New York City
location country	United States
key people	Henry A. Fernandez (CEO) Baer Pettit (President) Andrew Wiechmann (CFO) Scott Crum (CHRO)
services	Stock market indexes Portfolio analytics
revenue	US$2.86 billion (2024)
operating income	US$1.53 billion (2024)
net income	US$1.11 billion (2024)
assets	US$5.45 billion (2024)
equity	US$-940 million (2024)
num employees	6,132 (2024)
footnotes	‡R1R‡

History

Acquisitions

Collaborations

Indices

Inclusion of Chinese A-shares

See also

External links

References