a16z Live

Capital Markets #1 with MSCI CEO Henry Fernandez: What goes into an index?

Episode Summary

MSCI Inc manages the world index, tracking more than 20,000 companies in developed, emerging, and frontier economies, and is critical to benchmarking investment opportunity as well as risk and portfolio performance. In this Clubhouse conversation, MSCI CEO Henry Fernandez talks with Alex Rampell and Scott Kupor about how MSCI got started, how they construct an index and keep it accurate, the business model around indices, and the renewed importance of ESG in evaluating investments.

Episode Notes

• The MSCI origin story [1:07]
• How does an index get constructed? [6:51]
• How do you keep an index accurate? [11:42]
• MSCI business model... how do they get paid? [16:27]
• MSCI, competition, and why not an open source index? [23:14]
• ESG and investment objectives [27:00]
• ESG disclosure frameworks and the role of government in ESG [32:50]
• Defining ESG [34:44]
• MSCI, crypto, and other asset classes [42:55]
• Why an index business instead of principal investing? [51:09]

Follow the a16z Club to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.