MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI), a leading provider of investment decision support tools worldwide, launched two new indexes today for the China equity market – the MSCI China A International Index and the MSCI China All Shares Index. Both indexes are designed for international investors with QFII/RQFII quotas and can be used as benchmarks or as the basis of index-linked products.

The two standalone indexes reflect the full inclusion scenario outlined in the ‘Index Inclusion Roadmap for China A-Shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’ consultation proposal, launched earlier this year as part of MSCI’s Annual Market Classification Review.

The 2014 MSCI Annual Market Classification Review concluded that, based on feedback from international investors, China A-shares should not be included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index due to current investability constraints linked to the QFII/RQFII quota systems. However, many of those investors, especially those with QFII or RQFII quotas, wish to invest in China A-shares or to be benchmarked to a universe that includes this market segment.

“With the launch of these two new indexes, international investors who include or wish to include China A-shares in their current equity allocation now have appropriate benchmarks they can use within a consistent asset allocation framework,” said Alain Dubois, Managing Director and Head of New Business and Product Development for the Index business at MSCI.

The two new indexes expand MSCI’s existing family of indexes for the China equity market, providing an even more comprehensive range of index tools for both domestic and international investors.

Index   A Shares   B Shares   H Shares   Red Chips   P Chips   China Securities Listed in US/Singapore   Number of Constituents (as of Jun 23, 2014)  
MSCI All China Index   x   x   x   x   x   x   590     Provides the most comprehensive representation of the total China opportunity set in all geographical locations
NEW! MSCI China All Shares Index   x   x   x   x   x       385     Reflects the Mainland China and Hong Kong opportunity set from an international investor’s perspective
MSCI China A Index   x                       441     Reflects the opportunity set of Mainland China A-share securities from a domestic investor’s perspective
NEW! MSCI China A International Index   x                       221     Reflects the opportunity set of Mainland China A-share securities from an international QFII/RQFII investor’s perspective
MSCI China Index       x   x   x   x       140     Reflects the freely accessible opportunity set of Mainland China and Hong Kong listed China securities from an international investor’s perspective

The MSCI China A International Index, which currently contains 221 securities1, represents the A-share component of the MSCI China All Shares Index2, which combines A, B and H Shares with Red and P Chips. Both indexes are built from an international investor’s perspective using the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes Methodology - the same methodology applied to all MSCI international equity indexes. In addition, the standalone MSCI China A International Index can be combined with the MSCI ACWI Index and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to provide an approximation of the investment opportunity set if China A-shares were to be fully included in the MSCI Global Equity Indexes.

Further information on the MSCI China A International Index and the MSCI China All Shares Index can be found on our website.

1 As of June 23, 2014

2 For the China A-share constituents within the MSCI China All Shares Index, an Inclusion Factor (IF) of 100% is applied to their security free-float adjusted market capitalization in deriving their final weight in the index.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc. is a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investors globally, including asset managers, banks, hedge funds and pension funds. MSCI products and services include indexes, portfolio risk and performance analytics, and ESG data and research.

The company’s flagship product offerings are: the MSCI indexes with approximately USD 8 trillion estimated to be benchmarked to them on a worldwide basis1; Barra multi-asset class factor models, portfolio risk and performance analytics; RiskMetrics multi-asset class market and credit risk analytics; IPD real estate information, indexes and analytics; MSCI ESG (environmental, social and governance) Research screening, analysis and ratings; and FEA valuation models and risk management software for the energy and commodities markets. MSCI is headquartered in New York, with research and commercial offices around the world.

1As of September 30, 2013, as reported on January 31, 2014, by eVestment, Lipper and Bloomberg

For further information on MSCI, please visit our web site at www.msci.com