Hello, everyone. I'm delighted to welcome you to our virtual open house, MSCI's Custom Index Ecosystem, in focus. I'm Jeremy Ulan, Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, involve risks and uncertainties, and our actual results may differ materially from what we discuss. Please review our filings with the SEC for more details. We'll start with an overview of our custom index opportunity and have a Q&A session to go over questions from our investors and analysts. With that, it is my pleasure to turn the program over to Yana Haynes, Head of Index. Yana?
Thanks, Jeremy. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Yana Haynes, Head of Index at MSCI, and I'm thrilled to welcome you to our Custom Index virtual open house. Today, we're shining a light on a key part of MSCI's business, our Custom Index Ecosystem, and sharing how it drives innovation, growth, and differentiation for the company. Before we dive in, a little bit about my background. I spent 35 years in the industry and over 16 years with MSCI. Prior to returning to MSCI almost two years ago, I was the Chief Strategy Officer at ARK Investment Management. Today, I'm excited to explain how this business operates, innovates, and contributes to MSCI's long-term strategy and growth story. Let's start with the foundational question: What is a custom index? At the highest level, it is an index that meets the unique needs of an investor.
However, custom does not mean it is not based on broad recognized standards. Through MSCI's capabilities, we have the means to customize and productionize any rules-based investment strategy that can be systematically expressed and replicated. Custom indexes initially began as a simple exclusion or screening tool. For instance, a Swiss pension client requesting MSCI World excluding Switzerland to exclude home country bias. Today, advances in MSCI's data and technology and growth in our index universe enable our clients to incorporate a wide range of factors, from climate to sectors to style, and simulate strategies quickly and at scale. With that, let's now walk through the key messages we want to leave you with today. MSCI's custom index business is a clear example of how we turn our expertise into growth and differentiation.
Number one, we deliver trusted, consistent solutions that reinforce MSCI's standards and promote our ecosystem while meeting the rising demand for highly tailored client-specific indices. Our platform empowers clients to build scalable, rules-based products across asset classes, geographies, factors, and other exposures. At the same time, we also streamline workflows, helping clients operate faster and more efficiently, all while strengthening our competitive positioning and leveraging the full suite of MSCI research and analytics. Overall, our custom index franchise is not only about meeting client needs but also strengthening our competitive edge, reinforcing our standards with the investment community, and driving long-term value creation for MSCI. We have durable competitive advantages. Our indexes are built on best-in-class standards, aligned with client objectives, and importantly, anchored in MSCI's trusted, rules-based methodologies constructed from MSCI's research and IP. Our market leadership spans across index construction, factor models, and sustainability and climate solutions.
We have high-quality data with unmatched depth and breadth. Importantly, through the 1MSCI platform, clients access integrated research, models, and tools supported by our high-quality index production environment and infrastructure. Combined with a relentless focus on innovation, these advantages enable us to deliver scalable, high-impact solutions that reinforce MSCI's market leadership in indexes. Now, let's step back for a moment and look at how we got here. Our industry-leading index business has evolved over decades, shaping the way investors access markets. It began with a market cap foundation. The rise of index funds in the 1970s and the scaling of ETFs in the 1990s enabled investors to access more markets. We helped solve key challenges of active investing, which included high fees, inconsistent results, and limited transparency, with low-cost, rules-based market access using indexes at scale.
Next came the expansion into style, sector, and factor investing, as investors sought targeted exposures to specific themes and risk profiles. This required transparent index design to control liquidity, turnover, and tracking error. In the late 2010s, sustainability and climate considerations emerged as distinct, financially relevant factors. Investors needed specialized metrics, reporting, and index solutions to integrate ESG risks and climate alignment into portfolios. This set the stage for the shift to customization. One-size-fits-all indexes could no longer capture unique objectives or constraints, while growing data availability and technology made bespoke solutions possible. MSCI's advantage as a first mover in this space, with trusted standards across the global equity universe, positioned us to lead. Today, in a multi-asset, data-driven era, MSCI custom indexes turn complex inputs and constraints into implementable, index-grade exposures at scale, enabled by our standards, network effects, and deep client focus.
Today, customization at scale represents a vast growth opportunity as indexation becomes a central tool for portfolio construction. Banks, asset owners, and asset managers alike are seeking increasingly tailored solutions, from structured products and climate-aligned portfolios to differentiated ETFs. MSCI meets these needs with strong research and index expertise, a scalable technology platform, and AI-enabled automation that speeds workflows and enhances quality. By connecting clients across our integrated ecosystem and leveraging rich data inputs, MSCI delivers, again, custom solutions at scale, unlocking significant growth opportunities across asset classes and client segments. Our custom index franchise, at a glance, demonstrates strong growth and scale. The business is led by asset management, which makes up over half the subscription run rate, with banks, hedge funds, and asset owners rounding out a diverse client base. We also earn attractive asset-based fee revenue from custom index growing at a CAGR over 20% since 2022.
Over the last five years, we've licensed about 15,000 custom indexes, reflecting the increasing demand for tailored solutions. Overall, there is significant positive momentum from our scale, diversification, and strong growth trajectory. Today, over 810 funds are linked to our custom indexes, including 15 new fund launches this year alone and more than 120 equity ETFs, each with over $1 billion in assets. Our solutions are distributed through over 50 ETP partners, reflecting deep market penetration. In the past five years, $230 billion has flowed into ETPs linked to MSCI custom indexes. Across both ETFs and non-ETF vehicles, MSCI custom index is now linked to $1 trillion in equity AUM, demonstrating not only the scale and reach of our platform but also MSCI's leadership in enabling tailored, rules-based investment solutions at a global level.
Custom index demand is accelerating across all client segments, driven by both traditional needs and expanded value-added use cases. For asset managers, traditional use cases stemmed from aligning with specific asset owner mandates and requirements. Beyond quality, transparency, and innovative exposures, growth is now being driven by the need to use custom indexes to create differentiated products that help attract assets. This includes active ETF launches. There is a reason we can also refer to certain custom indexes as strategy indexes. Banks and hedge funds use MSCI custom indexes for structured product datasets, benefiting from flexibility and growing liquidity. Expanded use cases now include trading basket indexation and traditional benchmarking, supporting faster product launches and enabling hedge funds to raise capital from asset owners. For asset owners, traditional use cases centered on exclusions, special tax, and hedging treatments, climate integration in index portfolios.
Expansion comes from adopting a total portfolio approach, leveraging MSCI's multi-asset, fixed income, and climate capabilities. Finally, wealth and other clients can benefit from direct indexing and model portfolio customization, reflecting rising demand for personalized, scalable solutions. As you can see, there are multiple growth drivers for both traditional and expanded use cases that we've highlighted for you on the slide. Overall, we're enabling clients to expand from traditional applications to high-growth, value-added use cases, strengthening the ecosystem, and broadening adoption across client segments. To bring all of this to life, let's look at a few case studies that show how custom indexes solve real client challenges and deliver measurable impact, highlighting the strength and stickiness of our ecosystem. The first case study highlights how custom index capabilities can deliver first-of-its-kind solutions at scale. Varma, a leading Finnish pension insurer, needed a climate-aligned investment solution tailored to North America.
Their goals included aligning with science-based targets, maintaining geographic precision and transparency, and implementing a scalable, liquid-listed vehicle. MSCI partnered with Varma and Invesco to design a bespoke custom index, the MSCI Global Climate 500 North America Selection Index. The solution integrated MSCI's climate methodology and sustainability data, tilted towards companies with approved emissions reduction plans, and was built on a rules-based framework to ensure long-term scalability and transparent reporting. The outcome was transformative. The index supported a $2.4 billion launch of the Invesco MSCI North America Climate ETF, the largest ETF seed in market history, while delivering precise, climate-aligned exposure for Varma and establishing a scalable model to MSCI for future mandates. This case study demonstrates how we enable rapid, large-scale deployment of sustainable investment products.
An asset manager client needed to launch a suite of active ETFs aligned with global ESG goals, including Paris-aligned criteria under SFDR Article 9, while minimizing tracking error and delivering differentiated products across global, U.S., Europe, and emerging markets. MSCI developed a tailored suite of custom climate indexes in alignment with Article 9 sustainability standards and our clients' investment objectives. The solution integrated MSCI ESG ratings and Paris-aligned climate criteria, providing a scalable, rules-based framework to support multi-region ETF rollout. This resulted in the launch of four actively managed ETFs, which raised a combined $1 billion in AUM with strong initial demand. The solution delivered carbon and decarbonization reporting across regions, supported local alignment, with end-to-end support from custom index design to product launch. This slide illustrates how we enable clients to attract AUM in complex markets with institutional-grade, rules-based custom indexing solutions.
A banking client wanted to develop a custom long-short multi-factor strategy for the QIS market, a space traditionally dominated by in-house indexes. The challenge was to formalize internal factor models into a transparent, systematic index while ensuring robustness, scalability, and exposure control. MSCI partnered with our client to co-develop the first-of-its-kind long-short multi-factor index, leveraging BARA factor models and our analytics team to optimize for precision and systematic rigor. The solution was scalable, rigorously tested, and supported with long-term infrastructure, enabling institutional-grade transparency and control. Our client launched the MSCI World BARA Multi-Factor Select Long-Short Index, raising over $1 billion in linked assets while benefiting from enhanced credibility, transparency, and product differentiation in the QIS space. This example highlights how MSCI helps drive innovation in highly competitive insurance-linked products.
An insurance client sought to differentiate in the fixed index annuity market with a strategy that could adapt dynamically to changing economic conditions, moving beyond static or rules-based allocations while maintaining transparency and suitability for insurance-linked products. We delivered a first-of-its-kind AI-supported custom index. Using high-frequency macro data for tactical allocation and FIA industry-first, the index leveraged daily U.S. GDP and inflation estimates to adjust multi-asset exposures across U.S. equities, treasuries, gold, industrial metals, and foreign exchange. We also provided end-to-end support, including marketing and educational tools, to accelerate adoption. The impact was significant. The FIA product successfully launched, gained retail market share, attracted cross-border interest, and established a scalable platform for future product innovation. Let us turn to hedge funds, who are increasingly leveraging our custom index data, highlighting their role in strengthening market function and expanding our ecosystem.
First, through index trading strategies, growing liquidity and AUM in custom index-linked securities is driving demand for the underlying data, including the rebalances of weights, downweights, additions, and deletions. Second, well-capitalized hedge funds are adopting traditional benchmarking, particularly when managing large-scale asset owner mandates. These mandates often come with custom requirements, size limits, tax considerations, and currency overlays, embedding hedge funds deeper into the MSCI ecosystem and increasing overall custom index adoption. As we look ahead, demand for MSCI custom index solutions continues to broaden, fueled by innovation in product design, AI, climate, and new use cases across wealth and active management. In active ETFs, over $20 billion in AUM is now linked to MSCI indexes, a large part of which are enabled by our custom solutions. Emerging AI-driven tools are accelerating index creation, enhancing speed, scale, and personalization.
Climate-focused indexes are seeing rapid adoption among asset owners and insurers, integrating transition risk, physical climate exposure, and decarbonization goals or regulatory requirements. Finally, in wealth and personalization, custom indexes are enabling scalable delivery of model portfolios, creating opportunities for deeper retail and intermediary adoption. Overall, the serviceable addressable market outlook for the medium term is estimated around $1.5 billion. From bespoke solutions to a platform of offerings, MSCI custom indexes are powering innovation and helping our clients succeed. Today, we've highlighted how MSCI's custom index franchise reinforces industry standards while promoting the broader MSCI ecosystem. We continue to meet rising client demand for highly tailored, client-specific solutions, empowering them to develop scalable, rules-based products across asset classes, geographies, sectors, factors, and climate considerations.
Our platform also enables streamlined client workflows, helping clients operate faster and more efficiently, while strengthening their competitive edge through scaled portfolio construction, backed by the full depth of MSCI research, analytics, and technology. In summary, MSCI custom indexes are not just bespoke solutions, they're a scalable, innovation-driven engine that drives growth and value for both our clients and investors. Thank you all for joining us today and for your time and attention. We'll now move into the Q&A session.
That was great, Yana. Why don't we jump right in? As you mentioned, custom indexes have been a big growth driver, and we continue to see a lot of new use cases emerging. If we look one layer below, what are the growth dynamics you see by client segment, and how fast is each segment actually growing?
Sure, that's a great question. Our historical CAGR is about 15%, which is on slide seven. Frankly, growth is not quite linear, and not every period will replicate the past growth rates exactly. I would suggest, based on everything we see, that there are strong opportunities for growth across every client segment. Banks and hedge funds tend to have the fastest growth rate. Overall, there will be steady execution with potentially incremental acceleration from new use cases that we're uncovering with clients on a monthly and quarterly basis. Overall, there's definitely broad demand in the long run.
Great. If we look at the business from a slightly different lens, are there any specific product areas, such as climate or sustainability, maybe factors, maybe it's all the above, that are in higher demand than others from our clients?
Sure. The strong demand is reflected from the fact that we have licensed about 15,000 custom indexes over the last five years. We see broad demand across asset classes, but specifically, we see the combination going across factors, climate, sustainability, and multi-asset solutions that lead to launches of the likes of structured products and fixed index annuities.
Gotcha, gotcha. During the prepared remarks, you noted that asset-based fees are also an important component of the growth algorithm with custom indexes for us. Can you provide more details on maybe how big the run rate is, how fees are structured relative to traditional, maybe market cap-weighted indexes?
Asset-based fees are an integral component of our commercial model. It is very challenging to describe it in one sentence. The asset-based fees largely depend on aligning our model with our client's model, what they're launching, what they're building, and the contribution of our IP in the end product. There is really no one-size-fits-all, so to speak, on asset-based fees. Generally, the higher the contribution of MSCI's IP in the final end resulting index, the higher the portion of our asset-based fees might be in those situations.
Great. I think one thing that we have spoken a lot about with investors over the past 18 months is our acquisition of Foxberry. Maybe you can comment on how that integration has been going, how it's contributing to growth, and maybe where some of the new growth opportunities are coming from as a result of that acquisition.
Sure. The Foxberry Engine, the simulation engine, is a very fast and scalable simulation engine that we have been incorporating in the MSCI production environment since the acquisition. Today, we are actually using this engine to simulate the vast majority of client requests. With the market and our capabilities going more and more towards fast turnaround times and nearly real-time delivery of simulations, we've had incredibly positive feedback from our clients on the Foxberry Engine. What it allows MSCI to do, but what it also allows our clients to do, is significantly enhance production and operational capabilities, time to market. Therefore, it creates an enormous improvement and increase in our capacity to deliver more custom indexes to clients, which is very important in especially some of the fast-growing areas such as banks and broker-dealers in various applications that they need.
Thanks, Yana. Maybe just in the interest of time, why don't we go to our final question here, which almost always has to be about AI these days? Can you provide your thoughts on the potential use of AI and, you know, how we can potentially benefit in our custom index offering from using it? Maybe just looking at the other side of the coin, what are some of those potential risks that you could see or that you and the team think about and discuss?
Great, great topic and certainly an area that we've been spending a lot of time on. MSCI has been using AI in the index production environment for quite some time now. For a number of years, we have used AI in our data operations for quality controls and things like that. Generally speaking, there are two specific areas where we believe we have significant upside in AI usage: further enhancement of our data processes and production of data that supports index construction, as well as quality control. The second area is really productivity, faster turnaround, faster speed to market, and faster delivery of various standard analytics reports that clients that especially look at custom indexes need in order to understand what is happening in their portfolios. AI helps us deliver indexes in this faster, much more scalable way.
In addition to that, it allows us to continue bringing clarity into the custom index ecosystem, which by definition creates complexities for our clients. I would say on the risk side, when you start talking about creating indexes through the use of AI, I actually think that while all of our indexes are rules-based, AI is simply a tool to deliver a rules-based end result faster. Provided that there are guardrails and processes around the use of AI tools, I simply see very strong upside in the continuous adoption of AI-driven tools by us, by MSCI, as well as by our clients.
Great. Thanks, Yana. Maybe let's leave it there for this session. Really appreciate you spending the time with us today, Yana. Obviously, thank you to all of our investors that were able to join us. We hope you found this session very informative. As you heard from us today, we are very excited about the custom index opportunity and see a very long runway of growth for us. As always, we are available for any follow-up questions you may have. Everyone knows how to find myself or Jisoo on the team. Please don't hesitate to reach out, and we hope everyone has a great day.