Talk:MSCI/Archives/2017

Changes to Wikipedia page for MSCI, Inc.

To: Wikipedia editor for the page about MSCI, Inc.

I am a paid consultant working for MSCI, Inc. MSCI has asked me to submit changes to its Wikipedia pages, which are now outdated and do not reflect company's current business operations.

The changes have been sourced from the company's annual report and from internal company records; they have been reviewed and approved by MSCI's Head of Digital Services.

Should I submit these using Visual Editor, or would you like to review them first in the form of a Word document?

Thanks.

Frank Beck (talk) 13:24, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

New section

I am a paid consultant working under contract to MSCI, Inc. The company has asked me to submit updated information for its Wikipedia page because its leadership, size, acquisitions and lines of business have changed significantly in the last two years. Following is the copy that I have drafted, based on the published sources cited in the footnotes, the corporation's 2014 Annual Report and other internal company documents.

If you have any questions about this request or about the information provided, please let me know.

Thanks. Frank Beck

MSCI - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Type: Public Traded as: NYSE: MSCI Founded: 1969 Incorporated: 1998 Headquarters: Seven World Trade Center, New York NY Key people: Henry A. Fernandez, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Qutub, Chief Financial Officer Baer Pettit, Global Head of Products Chris Corrado, Chief Information Officer Laurent Seyer, Global Head of Client Coverage Number of locations: 35, in 22 countries 2014 Revenue: $996.6 million¹ 2014 Operating income: $337.2 million¹ 2014 Net income: $284.1 million ¹ Total Assets: $2,894 million¹ Number of employees: 2,9261 Website: www.msci.com

Overview MSCI Inc. is a publicly owned corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MSCI; its market capitalization was $7.04 billion, as of August 20, 2015. Headquartered in New York, the company operates three main areas of business: global market indexes, risk management products and portfolio management products.

Investors around the world use MSCI global market indexes to manage investment portfolios and measure their returns. The MSCI indexes provide an end-of-day valuation of individual securities and global investment markets. Of the latter, the best known are the MSCI World and MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australia, Far East) indexes. Other MSCI indexes track the performance of emerging market stocks; global real estate; factor and multi-factor investing, which focuses on groups of stocks with particular characteristics, such as growth or value; and ESG investing, which directs assets according to environmental, social and corporate governance factors.

MSCI risk management analytics products, such as RiskManager and BarraOne, are designed to monitor the risk levels of investment portfolios and to help asset managers avoid unintended risks. These products include software used for stress testing sample portfolios under specific market or macroeconomic shocks, such as sudden changes in interest rates or the prices of basic commodities. MSCI portfolio management analytics products, such as the Barra Portfolio Manager and more than 70 risk models, enable asset managers to analyze the trade-off between risk and return and make informed allocations choices.

At the end of 2014, MSCI indexes were used as benchmarks for more than $9 trillion in assets, according to the company’s data. MSCI served more than 6,700 clients across 87 countries1 ; they included asset managers of mutual and exchange-traded funds, hedge funds, pension funds, banks, broker-dealers and sovereign wealth funds. At that time, 98 of the top 100 global asset managers were MSCI clients1, according to the most recent ranking by Pensions and Investments.

MSCI operations are multinational; the company employs a staff of more than 2,900 investment professionals located in 22 countries around the world.

History MSCI, Inc. began as an operator of market indexes and that remains the primary focus of its business. Since 2004, the company has offered risk analytics products that complement its indexes and give asset managers tools for monitoring, managing and reporting on their portfolios.

1968: The Capital International Indices published the first set of market indexes for non-U.S. markets.

1986: Morgan Stanley licensed the rights to the Capital International indexes and renamed them the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) indexes.

1998: MSCI was incorporated; Capital International and Morgan Stanley were its joint owners. 2004: MSCI acquired Barra, which had developed and marketed portfolio analytics tools since 1975, extending the company’s product range beyond its index products for the first time. 2007: MSCI completed an initial public offering with a listing on the New York Stock Exchange on November 15. Morgan Stanley continued to maintain a controlling interest of about 97% as of November 30. 2009: Morgan Stanley sold its stake, and MSCI became an independent public corporation. 2010: MSCI acquired RiskMetrics Group², a provider of risk management and governance products. RMG owned the Center for Financial Research and Analytics, which was sold in March 2013, and Institutional Shareholder Services, which was sold in April 2014. RMG also owned Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., and KLD Research and Analytics, which are now known as MSCI ESG Research. MSCI acquired Measurisk³, a provider of risk management tools for hedge fund investors. Using Measurisk as a basis, MSCI developed a platform that allows hedge fund managers to analyze and report the risk levels of their portfolios. 2012: MSCI acquired IPD⁴, which develops metrics for real estate performance. This allowed MSCI to include privately owned real estate properties in its risk models and to launch a group of real estate indexes. 2013: MSCI acquired InvestorForce⁵, which has products that institutional investors in the United States use to compile performance data from custodial banks, money managers and other industry sources. 2014: MSCI acquired GMI Ratings⁶, which rates companies’ corporate governance practices for institutional investors, banks, insurers, auditors, government regulators and others who want to integrate ESG factors into their risk assessment and decision-making.

Products and Services Global Indexes MSCI is best known for its global equity indexes, which are designed to monitor the stocks offered in many of the public equity markets throughout the world and to measure their returns. They are the most widely used benchmarks for international equity funds.

As of December 31, 2014, the MSCI Global Equity indexes tracked equity markets in more than 80 countries in its developed, emerging and frontier market categories; many of these were folded into regional or composite indexes, such as the MSCI EAFE Index. Other indexes track individual industry sectors; factor investing, such as value and growth stocks; and investing by market capitalization size.

MSCI indexes also serve as the benchmark for more than 650 ETFs around the world, more than those linked to any other index provider. Together, these funds had more than $447 billion in assets as of April 30, 2015.

Initially, most market indexes reflected a particular existing market; for example, the MSCI China Index, measures the performance of stocks traded in the Chinese market. In recent years, MSCI has launched indexes designed to measure stocks grouped in a variety of new ways. For example, the MSCI Economic Exposure Index captures the performance of stocks with exposure to specific nations or regions, even if the stocks are traded elsewhere. Other indexes track the performance of stocks exposed to a specific investment factor across global markets.

Factor Investing Products Institutional investors use MSCI indexes and analytical models to evaluate investment factors and integrate factor strategies into their portfolios. A factor is any characteristic that is important in explaining the risk and return of a group of securities.

MSCI is one of the leaders in factor-based ETFs. Of the 95 MSCI-linked ETFs launched in 2014, 42 tracked MSCI Factor indexes⁷, which are based on the six factors MSCI has identified as clear and persistent factors over time: o Value – MSCI Value Weighted indexes weight stocks according to four fundamental variables (sales, earnings, cash flow, book value) o Low size – MSCI Equal Weighted indexes weight all stocks in a parent index equally o Low volatility – MSCI Minimum Volatility Indexes identify stocks with the lowest forecast volatility, using minimum variance optimization o High Yield – MSCI High Dividend Yield indexes identify high-dividend stocks, with screens for quality and potential yield traps o Quality – MSCI Quality indexes identify high-quality stocks, scored according debt-to-equity, return-on-equity and earnings variability o Momentum – MSCI Momentum indexes weight stocks based on 6- and 12-month momentum and scaled by each stock’s volatility within those periods

Risk Management Products Using bands such as Risk Metrics and Barra, MSCI offers risk assessment tools for managing and monitoring investments in multiple asset classes across an entire asset management organization. These products are based on integrated risk models using multiple fundamental factors, value-at-risk (“VaR”) methodologies and asset valuation models. They enable investors to identify, manage, monitor and report potential market risks and to analyze portfolio risk and return across a wide range of asset classes.

Portfolio Management Products In the past, directors of actively managed stock portfolios used a standard market index to determine the universe of funds from which to select stocks. Today’s asset managers often want to focus their investments in the individual market areas where they believe they can find the best opportunities. MSCI has developed risk models designed to monitor these market areas, which include individual industry sectors, emerging markets and small-cap stocks. The company launched 25 of these new risk models in 2014.

Research MSCI’s market researchers and analysts produce white papers on a wide range of subjects of interest to investors. Their most important function is to identify new market developments that are not yet widely discussed or understood. MSCI Research also conducts specialized research at a client’s request.

References 1. MSCI, Inc. 2014 Annual report via MSCI.com 2. “MSCI Completes Acquisition of RiskMetrics”, June 1, 2010 on msci.com 3. “MSCI to Acquire Measurisk”, July 15, 2010 on msci.com 4. “MSCI Completes Acquisition of IPD Group”, November 30, 2015, Reuters 5. “MSCI Completes Acquisition of InvestorForce”, January 29, 2013 on msci.com 6. “MSCI Completes Acquisition of GMI Ratings”, August 12, 2014 on msi.com 7. “MSCI Has Defined ‘Smart Beta’ Better” by Olivier Ludwig on ETF.com March 6, 2015

Frank Beck (talk) 04:11, 10 November 2015 (UTC)

 Not done You have failed to provide reliably published sources that verify the claims. See WP:REFB for information about formatting such citations. In addition, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia where we provide encyclopedic information and not a free webhost where where host a copy of a company's promotional materials -- TRPoD aka The Red Pen of Doom 18:53, 16 November 2015 (UTC)