The latest news on investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

MSCI
Investment tools and index provider, MSCI, has launched Institutional Client-Designed Indexes (iCDI), which is pitched at institutional asset owners to enable them to customise and adapt indexes that underpin their investment strategies.   

MSCI iCDIs are designed to allow asset owners to modify an index’s methodology as changes arise instead of switching indexes completely when their investment strategies shift.  

Pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, and other institutional asset owners are increasingly evolving their investment strategies to account for the impacts of a fast-changing market, with adjustments ranging from shifts in factor rotation to adoption of their own unique ESG and climate investing objectives, the organisation said in a statement. 

Asset owners can select initial index criteria for an iCDI, which can target ESG, climate, thematic factors or other considerations. Their selected iCDI solution can serve as an index for an indexed mandate managed by the asset owner internally or by a third-party asset manager.  

Asset owners can use regular insights from solutions research to pinpoint sources of performance, quantify evolving risks and opportunities, and proactively adjust their index methodology, as needed, to ensure its continuous suitability for their specific strategy. 

iCDI monitoring includes:  

-- Risk and performance analysis, including extra-financial characteristics such as ESG, climate, and thematic factors; 
-- Topical research relevant to the iCDI; and 
-- Stress test analysis reflecting the potential impact of the evolving economic and financial situations.