NEW YORK-Wednesday 22 January 2020 [ AETOS Wire ]
Contacts
(BUSINESS WIRE)-- MSCI
(NYSE: MSCI), a leading provider of mission critical decision support
tools and services for the global investment community, is calling for
all investors globally to more readily integrate Environmental, Social
and Governance (ESG) considerations throughout their investment
processes if they are to mitigate the risks and identify the
opportunities of a rapidly changing world and contribute to an effective
and balanced transition towards a sustainable economy.
MSCI
has published “The MSCI Principles of Sustainable Investing,” a
framework designed to illustrate specific, actionable steps that
investors can and should undertake to improve practices for ESG
integration across the investment value chain. The framework includes
three core pillars to full ESG integration:
- Investment Strategy: Asset owners should integrate ESG considerations into their processes for establishing, monitoring and revising their overall investment strategy and asset allocation.
- Portfolio Management: Portfolio managers should incorporate ESG considerations throughout the entire portfolio management process, including security selection, portfolio construction, risk management, performance attribution and client reporting.
- Investment Research: Research analysts assessing companies and issuing investment recommendations to portfolio managers should integrate ESG considerations (including ESG company ratings) into their fundamental company analysis.
This publication, which can be found on MSCI’s website,
is one of many resources designed to help investors identify new
investment opportunities, manage emerging risks and achieve long-term,
sustainable investment performance.
“The
world is rapidly evolving due to dramatic environmental, social and
governance shifts, including the effects and implications of climate
change and the move to a low carbon economy, which will significantly
impact the pricing of financial assets and the risk and return of
investments, and lead to a large-scale re-allocation of capital over the
next few decades,” said Henry Fernandez, Chairman & CEO at MSCI.
“The
need for a set of guidelines that will help all investment institutions
around the world manage emerging opportunities and inherent risks
associated with ESG considerations in pursuit of long-term, sustainable
investment performance has never been greater. MSCI is fully committed
to helping investors make better decisions for a better world, and these
Principles of Sustainable Investing play a part towards achieving that
mission,” added Mr. Fernandez.
“Sustainable
investing is a critically important part of the long-term investment
process and our framework is designed to help investors understand
approaches to effectively integrate ESG criteria as a core component of
building a resilient portfolio,” said Remy Briand, Head of ESG at MSCI. “Through
our research, tools and efforts to promote transparency, we seek to
support investors in the critical quest to integrate ESG considerations
in their portfolios.”
MSCI
has been at the forefront of providing data, research and other tools
to help enable ESG integration across the whole investment process and
is committed to further advance solutions to facilitate and accelerate
sustainable investing. Our research, ratings, indexes, models and
portfolio analytics empower the world’s largest and most sophisticated
investors in their drive to integrate ESG considerations into their
investment processes.
MSCI
also promotes ESG transparency across the investment value chain by
making publicly available our ESG ratings of the most commonly owned
companies worldwide, as well as our methodologies for determining ESG
company ratings and constructing ESG indexes. By April 30, 2020, MSCI
will also make public the ESG characteristics of all MSCI Equity Indexes
and of the most commonly owned mutual funds.
About MSCI Inc.
MSCI
is a leading provider of critical decision support tools and services
for the global investment community. With over 45 years of expertise in
research, data and technology, we power better investment decisions by
enabling clients to understand and analyze key drivers of risk and
return and confidently build more effective portfolios. We create
industry-leading research-enhanced solutions that clients use to gain
insight into and improve transparency across the investment process. To
learn more, please visit www.msci.com.
This
document and all of the information contained in it, including without
limitation all text, data, graphs, charts (collectively, the
“Information”) is the property of MSCI Inc. or its subsidiaries
(collectively, “MSCI”), or MSCI’s licensors, direct or indirect
suppliers or any third party involved in making or compiling any
Information (collectively, with MSCI, the “Information Providers”) and
is provided for informational purposes only. The Information may not be
modified, reverse-engineered, reproduced or redisseminated in whole or
in part without prior written permission from MSCI.
The
Information may not be used to create derivative works or to verify or
correct other data or information. For example (but without limitation),
the Information may not be used to create indexes, databases, risk
models, analytics, software, or in connection with the issuing,
offering, sponsoring, managing or marketing of any securities,
portfolios, financial products or other investment vehicles utilizing or
based on, linked to, tracking or otherwise derived from the Information
or any other MSCI data, information, products or services.
The
user of the Information assumes the entire risk of any use it may make
or permit to be made of the Information. NONE OF THE INFORMATION
PROVIDERS MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR REPRESENTATIONS
WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION (OR THE RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE
USE THEREOF), AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW,
EACH INFORMATION PROVIDER EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES
(INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ORIGINALITY,
ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, NON-INFRINGEMENT, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE) WITH RESPECT TO ANY OF THE
INFORMATION.
Without
limiting any of the foregoing and to the maximum extent permitted by
applicable law, in no event shall any Information Provider have any
liability regarding any of the Information for any direct, indirect,
special, punitive, consequential (including lost profits) or any other
damages even if notified of the possibility of such damages. The
foregoing shall not exclude or limit any liability that may not by
applicable law be excluded or limited, including without limitation (as
applicable), any liability for death or personal injury to the extent
that such injury results from the negligence or willful default of
itself, its servants, agents or sub-contractors.
Information
containing any historical information, data or analysis should not be
taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance, analysis,
forecast or prediction. Past performance does not guarantee future
results.
The
Information should not be relied on and is not a substitute for the
skill, judgment and experience of the user, its management, employees,
advisors and/or clients when making investment and other business
decisions. All Information is impersonal and not tailored to the needs
of any person, entity or group of persons.
None
of the Information constitutes an offer to sell (or a solicitation of
an offer to buy), any security, financial product or other investment
vehicle or any trading strategy.
It
is not possible to invest directly in an index. Exposure to an asset
class or trading strategy or other category represented by an index is
only available through third party investable instruments (if any) based
on that index. MSCI does not issue, sponsor, endorse, market, offer,
review or otherwise express any opinion regarding any fund, ETF,
derivative or other security, investment, financial product or trading
strategy that is based on, linked to or seeks to provide an investment
return related to the performance of any MSCI index (collectively,
“Index Linked Investments”). MSCI makes no assurance that any Index
Linked Investments will accurately track index performance or provide
positive investment returns. MSCI Inc. is not an investment adviser or
fiduciary and MSCI makes no representation regarding the advisability of
investing in any Index Linked Investments.
Index
returns do not represent the results of actual trading of investible
assets/securities. MSCI maintains and calculates indexes, but does not
manage actual assets. Index returns do not reflect payment of any sales
charges or fees an investor may pay to purchase the securities
underlying the index or Index Linked Investments. The imposition of
these fees and charges would cause the performance of an Index Linked
Investment to be different than the MSCI index performance.
The
Information may contain back tested data. Back-tested performance is
not actual performance, but is hypothetical. There are frequently
material differences between back tested performance results and actual
results subsequently achieved by any investment strategy.
Constituents
of MSCI equity indexes are listed companies, which are included in or
excluded from the indexes according to the application of the relevant
index methodologies. Accordingly, constituents in MSCI equity indexes
may include MSCI Inc., clients of MSCI or suppliers to MSCI. Inclusion
of a security within an MSCI index is not a recommendation by MSCI to
buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment
advice.
Data
and information produced by various affiliates of MSCI Inc., including
MSCI ESG Research LLC and Barra LLC, may be used in calculating certain
MSCI indexes. More information can be found in the relevant index
methodologies on www.msci.com.
MSCI
receives compensation in connection with licensing its indexes to third
parties. MSCI Inc.’s revenue includes fees based on assets in Index
Linked Investments. Information can be found in MSCI Inc.’s company
filings on the Investor Relations section of www.msci.com.
MSCI
ESG Research LLC is a Registered Investment Adviser under the
Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and a subsidiary of MSCI Inc. Except
with respect to any applicable products or services from MSCI ESG
Research, neither MSCI nor any of its products or services recommends,
endorses, approves or otherwise expresses any opinion regarding any
issuer, securities, financial products or instruments or trading
strategies and MSCI’s products or services are not intended to
constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain
from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as
such. Issuers mentioned or included in any MSCI ESG Research materials
may include MSCI Inc., clients of MSCI or suppliers to MSCI, and may
also purchase research or other products or services from MSCI ESG
Research. MSCI ESG Research materials, including materials utilized in
any MSCI ESG Indexes or other products, have not been submitted to, nor
received approval from, the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission or any other regulatory body.
Any
use of or access to products, services or information of MSCI requires a
license from MSCI. MSCI, Barra, RiskMetrics, IPD and other MSCI brands
and product names are the trademarks, service marks, or registered
trademarks of MSCI or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
jurisdictions. The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) was
developed by and is the exclusive property of MSCI and Standard &
Poor’s. “Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS)” is a service
mark of MSCI and Standard & Poor’s.
MIFID2/MIFIR
notice: MSCI ESG Research LLC does not distribute or act as an
intermediary for financial instruments or structured deposits, nor does
it deal on its own account, provide execution services for others or
manage client accounts. No MSCI ESG Research product or service
supports, promotes or is intended to support or promote any such
activity. MSCI ESG Research is an independent provider of ESG data,
reports and ratings based on published methodologies and available to
clients on a subscription basis. We do not provide custom or one-off
ratings or recommendations of securities or other financial instruments
upon request.
Privacy
notice: For information about how MSCI ESG Research LLC collects and
uses personal data concerning officers and directors, please refer to
our Privacy Notice at https://www.msci.com/privacy-pledge.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200121005423/en/
Investor Inquiries
investor.relations@msci.com
Salli Schwartz +1 646 662 9343
Media Inquiries
PR@msci.com
Sam Wang +1 212 804 5244
Melanie Blanco +1 212 981 1049
Laura Hudson +44 20 7336 9653
Rachel Lai +852 2844 9315
MSCI Global Client Service
EMEA Client Service + 44 20 7618.2222
Americas Client Service +1 888 588 4567 (toll free)
Asia Pacific Client Service + 852 2844 9333
