Research Paper

This Research Insight presents the results of the 2013 MSCI Global Asset Owner Survey, which focuses on understanding the asset allocation processes of institutional asset owners, with a close examination of risk management of the real estate exposure. The findings come from in-person interviews with staff at 40 asset owners from around the world, representing $3.2 trillion in assets, as well as online survey responses from another 40 asset owners, representing $0.7 trillion in assets. These...

Risk Management Analytics

Research Paper

Pension plans have been considering what would happen when interest rates started to rise, and in the past quarter we saw a noticeable increase in rates across developed economies.  While it is unclear if, when, and by how much rates will rise in the future, this recent quarter has shown the impact of this particular increase in rates, and the different ways in which plans were affected.  In this Market Report, we reviewed how asset allocation, the relative duration of liabilities...

Research Paper

Indexes

MSCI Blog

The classic 60:40 mix of stocks and bonds has shifted to a 40:40:20 mix of stocks, bonds and alternatives, according to the 2014 MSCI Asset Owner survey.

MSCI Blog

How can asset owners integrate an equity factor allocation into their existing roster of active managers? There is no one answer that suits all. The response may be different for each asset owner, depending on its investment beliefs, goals and risk tolerance.

Research Paper

Asset owners use indexes as policy benchmarks and reference portfolios in their asset allocation. Index investors track cap-weighted indexes that seek to capture the market return. Active investors select securities and build portfolios that aim to outperform the market. All these types of investors may be able to benefit from incorporating factors into their process. More importantly, they may also be able to integrate factors without compromising other fundamentally important aspects of...

Indexes Portfolio Management Analytics

Research Paper

The erosion of the real estate home bias: an australian case study in risk diversification. As an asset class, real estate investing typically has a high degree of home bias, especially when compared to equities and fixed interest. However, this real estate home bias is starting to erode, with asset owners in most countries already investing internationally or actively exploring the options for building offshore exposures. Some of these asset owners are motivated purely by pricing, but many...

Real Estate Products & Services

MSCI Blog

Some large asset owners are increasingly coming to believe that many executive pay schemes don’t align the interests of CEOs and investors. There appears to be an increasing focus on pay plan simplicity and transparency.

Research Paper

Asset owners face a challenge in determining how the factor allocation fits into the overall equity program, in particular how the factor allocation relates to the existing roster of active managers. This paper uses a risk budgeting framework to investigate how active mandates and factor allocations can be combined. We address three key questions: 1) how does the level of active risk in active management affect the factor allocation decision, 2) what share of the portfolio can be deployed to...

Indexes

Research Paper

Indexes ESG Products & Services