MSCI

Founded in 1969 as Morgan Stanley Capital International, this firm emerged to solve a specific problem: the lack of standardized benchmarks for international equities. The organization began as a joint venture between Morgan Stanley and Capital International before spinning off into an independent public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1997. It now operates out of 7 World Trade Center in New York City, where it continues to build the mathematical frameworks that define equity, fixed income, real estate, and climate risk for investors worldwide.

The business model relies entirely on licensing proprietary indices rather than trading securities or managing client assets directly. Asset managers, pension funds, and insurance companies pay fees ranging from 0.02% to 0.04% of their assets under management to use these benchmarks. By late 2025, over $16.5 trillion in capital tracked MSCI indices like the MSCI World and MSCI Emerging Markets, cementing its role as critical infrastructure for modern portfolio management.

Recent years have seen the company face significant scrutiny over its methodology and market influence. In October 2026, MSCI announced plans to downgrade Indonesia's status from a developed to an emerging market, a move expected to alter capital flows into the region. Later that month, the firm signaled it would remove MicroStrategy from its global indexes by November 30 due to new rules regarding crypto treasury firms. Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy, criticized the decision as disappointing, highlighting the immense political and economic weight carried by MSCI's indexing criteria. [edit]