MSCI

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A global provider of investment indexes, portfolio analytics, ESG data, and financial risk-management solutions.

Last updated October 7, 2026

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Overview

MSCI Inc. is a New York-based financial information and investment-technology company best known for creating and licensing equity-market indexes used by asset managers, pension funds, sovereign investors, exchange-traded funds, and other institutional market participants. Its name originated as an abbreviation for Morgan Stanley Capital International, although the company later became independent from Morgan Stanley. The business serves investors across public and private markets through a combination of recurring index licensing, analytical software, market data, research, and advisory-oriented products. MSCI's index franchise includes broad global benchmarks such as the MSCI World Index, which covers developed markets; the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; the MSCI EAFE Index, covering developed markets outside the United States and Canada; and the MSCI ACWI family, which combines developed and emerging markets. The company also maintains country, regional, style, factor, real-estate, fixed-income, multi-asset, climate, and thematic indexes. Indexes are licensed to financial products including ETFs and index funds, and are also used as performance benchmarks and as the basis for derivatives and portfolio mandates. Beyond indexes, MSCI provides portfolio-construction, attribution, risk, and scenario-analysis tools. Its analytics business supports institutional investors in evaluating exposures, factor sensitivities, liquidity, stress outcomes, and investment performance. MSCI also offers ESG ratings, climate data, sustainable-investing research, and related analytics. Acquisitions such as Barra, RiskMetrics, Carbon Delta, Real Capital Analytics, and Burgiss expanded the company's capabilities in quantitative risk, climate analysis, real estate, and private assets. The modern MSCI business developed from global stock-market indexes created by Capital International in the late 1960s. Morgan Stanley licensed those indexes in 1986 and marketed them under the Morgan Stanley Capital International name. Morgan Stanley later separated the business through a partial public offering in 2007 and completed the divestiture in 2009. MSCI remains a publicly traded company whose principal economic model is based on licensing intellectual property and selling subscription-based data and analytical services. Its benchmarks have become important infrastructure for global asset allocation, although index methodology, exposure to controversial issuers, and the treatment of markets such as China have periodically attracted regulatory, political, and investor scrutiny.

History

MSCI's roots lie in Capital International's development of global stock-market indexes for investors seeking systematic exposure to markets outside the United States. Capital International published international indexes in 1968, and the index series has generally been calculated from 1969 onward. These benchmarks helped establish a common framework for comparing markets that differed in accounting conventions, trading systems, currencies, and levels of economic development. In 1986, Morgan Stanley licensed the rights to the Capital International indexes and gave them the Morgan Stanley Capital International name. During the 1980s, MSCI indexes became widely used as international benchmarks, particularly outside the United States. Their importance increased as institutional investors adopted passive investment, international asset allocation, and benchmark-based performance measurement. MSCI subsequently refined its methodologies, including the use of free-float and investability considerations in determining index weights. Its index families expanded from broad country and regional benchmarks into style, factor, sector, thematic, ESG, climate, real-estate, fixed-income, and multi-asset products. A major capability expansion occurred in 2004, when MSCI acquired Barra. The combined business, known for a period as MSCI Barra, joined benchmark construction with quantitative portfolio-risk modeling and analytics. Morgan Stanley decided in the middle of the 2000s to divest the business. MSCI completed an initial public offering of a minority stake in November 2007, and the separation from Morgan Stanley was completed in 2009. The independent public company then pursued acquisitions and product development intended to reduce reliance on traditional equity benchmarks and broaden its role in investment decision support. In 2010, MSCI acquired RiskMetrics Group and Measurisk, adding risk analytics, governance-related data, and derivatives-oriented capabilities. Investment Property Databank was acquired in 2012, and InvestorForce was acquired in 2013, strengthening real-estate and institutional portfolio analytics. MSCI acquired GMI Ratings in 2014, expanding governance and responsible-investment research. In 2019, it acquired Carbon Delta, a Zurich-based climate-change analytics company, supporting the development of climate-risk and transition-risk products. The company continued moving into private and real assets. It acquired Real Capital Analytics in 2021, adding commercial real-estate transaction and market data. In 2023, MSCI completed its acquisition of the Burgiss Group for $697 million, bringing private-assets data and analytics into its platform. MSCI also formed commercial collaborations, including a 2021 licensing agreement with Cboe Global Markets and a 2022 collaboration with MarketAxess to combine ESG information with fixed-income pricing and liquidity indicators. MSCI's benchmark decisions have sometimes had consequences beyond ordinary product management. Its 2018 decision to begin including Chinese A-shares in the Emerging Markets Index, followed by proposed increases in their representation, generated debate about market accessibility, audit transparency, sanctions, national security, and political influence. MSCI stated that the decision was based on market-access considerations, while critics argued that the inclusion of certain Chinese issuers created regulatory and human-rights risks. The company later removed seven Chinese companies from relevant indexes in response to U.S. restrictions. More recent criticism has focused on allegations that some MSCI indexes contained companies linked to forced labor or surveillance. These controversies illustrate the influence of major index providers over global capital allocation and the competing demands placed on them by investors, regulators, and governments. Today, MSCI operates as a diversified financial-information and analytics company. Index licensing remains central, but the company also sells subscription data, portfolio software, risk models, ESG and climate analytics, real-estate intelligence, and private-market research. Its products are used by asset owners, asset managers, banks, wealth managers, consultants, and financial-product issuers worldwide.

2023
Burgiss acquisition completed
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI completed its acquisition of private-assets data provider Burgiss for $697 million.
2021
Real Capital Analytics acquisition
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
The acquisition expanded MSCI's commercial real-estate data and transaction analytics.
2019
Carbon Delta acquisition
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI acquired Carbon Delta to strengthen climate-change and climate-risk analytics.
2018
Chinese A-shares enter the Emerging Markets Index
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI began including eligible mainland Chinese A-shares at a limited inclusion factor.
2010
RiskMetrics and Measurisk acquisitions
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
The acquisitions expanded MSCI's risk-management, governance, and portfolio-analytics capabilities.
2009
Divestiture from Morgan Stanley completed
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI completed its separation from former parent Morgan Stanley and operated as an independent public company.
2007
Initial public offering
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI completed an IPO for a minority of its stock as Morgan Stanley began divesting the business.
2004
Acquisition of Barra
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
MSCI acquired Barra, combining index expertise with quantitative risk and portfolio analytics.
1986
Morgan Stanley licenses the indexes
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
Morgan Stanley licensed Capital International's indexes and branded them as Morgan Stanley Capital International indexes.
1969
MSCI global equity index calculation begins
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
The global equity index series associated with MSCI began being calculated, providing standardized benchmarks for international investment.
1968
Capital International publishes international equity indexes
[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
Capital International published indexes designed to represent global stock markets outside the United States, establishing the foundation of the later MSCI benchmark franchise.

Products and positioning

MSCI positions itself as an independent provider of benchmarks, investment data, and decision-support technology for institutional investors and asset managers. Its strongest brand association is with globally standardized equity indexes, while its broader strategy combines index intellectual property with analytics, ESG and climate intelligence, and private-market data.

Global equity index
MSCI World Index
A benchmark representing large- and mid-cap companies across developed markets. It is widely used to measure developed-market equity performance and as the basis for global investment products, institutional mandates, and portfolio comparisons.
Emerging-market equity index
MSCI Emerging Markets Index
A benchmark covering companies in markets classified by MSCI as emerging. It is used by asset managers for strategic allocation, passive funds, performance measurement, and derivatives, and became especially significant in discussions about the inclusion of mainland Chinese shares.
Global equity index
MSCI ACWI Index
The All Country World Index family combines developed and emerging markets, giving investors a broad reference point for worldwide equity exposure. Variants support different capitalization, factor, sustainability, and investability requirements.
International equity index
MSCI EAFE Index
An established benchmark for developed equity markets outside the United States and Canada. It is used by international funds and institutional investors seeking a non-North-American developed-market reference.
ESG research and ratings
MSCI ESG Ratings
A suite of company-level sustainability assessments and related data intended to help investors evaluate financially relevant environmental, social, and governance risks and compare issuers within industries.
Portfolio analytics
Barra risk models
Quantitative models and analytical tools used to estimate portfolio exposures, factor sensitivities, risk contributions, and potential outcomes under changing market conditions. The Barra business became part of MSCI through the 2004 acquisition.

Controversies

2023
U.S. congressional investigation into China-related index exposure
The U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party investigated MSCI's China-related investment activity and concluded that MSCI had channeled $3.7 billion into entities described by the committee as blacklisted. The finding was part of a broader political dispute over index providers, China exposure, and national-security controls.
Source
2022
Allegations concerning forced labor and surveillance exposure
A Sheffield Hallam University and Hong Kong Watch study identified companies in several MSCI indexes that it alleged were involved in forced labor or mass surveillance connected with Uyghurs. The allegations raised questions about index-provider due diligence and the human-rights consequences of benchmark inclusion.
Source

2023
Complete acquisition of BurgissM&A
Background
MSCI sought to expand beyond public-market indexes into private-market data and analytics.
Action taken
MSCI completed the acquisition of New Jersey-based private-assets data provider Burgiss for $697 million.
Aftermath
The transaction broadened MSCI's private-markets information and analytics capabilities.
Acquisition consideration. $697 million (2023)
Source
2020
Remove seven Chinese companies from indexesOther
Background
United States Executive Order 13959 restricted certain investments involving Chinese military-linked companies.
Action taken
MSCI announced the removal of seven Chinese companies from its relevant indexes in response to the U.S. restrictions.
Aftermath
The action illustrated how sanctions and government investment restrictions can require benchmark providers to change index constituents.
Source
2019
Plan further increases in Chinese A-share representationStrategy
Background
Following the initial inclusion, MSCI reviewed the treatment of mainland Chinese equities and announced a staged approach to increasing their representation in global emerging-market benchmarks.
Action taken
MSCI announced additional inclusion steps based on the market capitalization of eligible mainland Chinese shares.
Aftermath
The decision attracted political criticism in the United States and continued investor discussion about whether the market met international standards for transparency and accessibility.
Source
2018
Begin partial inclusion of Chinese A-sharesStrategy
Background
Mainland Chinese equities had long been subject to restrictions affecting foreign access, ownership, settlement, and market infrastructure. MSCI assessed changes in accessibility and decided to add eligible A-shares to its emerging-markets benchmark.
Action taken
MSCI introduced eligible Chinese A-shares at an initial 5% inclusion factor rather than their full free-float-adjusted market weights.
Aftermath
The move increased China's representation in widely followed benchmarks and prompted debate about market governance, audit access, investor protection, and geopolitical risk.
Source

Recent events

2020
MSCI removes seven Chinese companies from its indexes[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
Regulation · Other
MSCI said it would remove seven Chinese companies from relevant indexes following United States government restrictions under Executive Order 13959.
2019
MSCI increases the planned representation of Chinese A-shares[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
Regulation
MSCI announced further steps toward increasing the representation of eligible mainland Chinese shares in its global benchmarks, prompting debate about market access, governance, and geopolitical risk.
2018
MSCI begins including Chinese A-shares in its Emerging Markets Index[1]MSCIen.wikipedia.org
Other · Regulation
MSCI introduced a limited inclusion of mainland Chinese A-shares in its emerging-markets benchmark, initially assigning eligible securities a 5% inclusion factor.

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