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Afsaneh Mastouri
Executive Director, MSCI Research
Afsaneh Mastouri is MSCI's global head of fixed-income solutions. She and her team conduct research on global fixed-income markets and help clients solve their investment challenges using index strategies and systematic and factor solutions. Before joining MSCI, Afsaneh served as a senior interest-rate strategist with Crédit Agricole and Royal Bank of Scotland. She holds a master’s degree in finance from the London Business School.
Research and Insights
Articles by Afsaneh Mastouri
How Are You Fixed for Fixed Income for 2025?
Podcast | Dec 5, 2024 | Yihai Yu, Jakub Malich, Afsaneh MastouriWith fixed-income investors still recovering from a year that arguably saw nearly every cycle of the market, we look ahead to 2025 across sectors, including sustainability-linked bonds, securitized products and the ongoing effects of inflation and moves by central banks.
Investment Trends in Focus: Quarterly Roundtable Q4 2024
Podcast | Oct 17, 2024 | Yuliya Plyakha Ferenc, Afsaneh Mastouri, Xinxin Wang, Ashley Lester, Cheng LyuFrom the effects of China’s stimulus to the power of sustainability on portfolio performance and companies cost of capital, our panel dissects the latest market drivers and where investors may be focused for the rest of 2024.
Markets in Focus: Rate Cuts Ripple Through Export-Oriented Markets
5 mins read Blog | Oct 2, 2024 | Dinank Chitkara, Anil Rao, Thomas Verbraken, Afsaneh MastouriInterest-rate uncertainty and restructured trade networks are drawing attention to export-oriented markets. MSCI’s equity models, using foreign-sensitivity exposures, have highlighted wide differences in exporter firms’ performance across regions.
What If Bond Issuers Don’t Meet Their Emissions-Reduction Targets?
4 mins read Blog | Aug 28, 2024 | Juan Sampieri, Afsaneh MastouriBond investors evaluating their decarbonization targets may want to consider different scenarios for projected carbon emissions of companies in their portfolios. We assessed three scenarios’ impact on portfolios aiming for different decarbonization levels by 2030.
What If Bond Issuers Meet Their Emissions-Reduction Targets?
2 mins read Quick Take | Aug 12, 2024 | Juan Sampieri, Afsaneh MastouriWe consider a scenario in which corporate-bond issuers meet their projected levels of emissions reductions — and what it could mean for the fixed-income portfolios of investors with a climate mandate.
Getting a Fix on Fixed Income
Podcast | Jul 25, 2024 | Afsaneh MastouriWith stubborn inflation, a plunging Japanese yen and unpredictable elections around the globe, 2024 has proven challenging for fixed-income investors — and for central banks. We sat down with MSCI’s global head of fixed-income solutions research, Afsaneh Mastouri, to talk about the state of fixed-income markets, and what the rest of the year may hold.
Markets in Focus: Currency Risk Higher for Global Equity Investors
5 mins read Blog | Jul 9, 2024 | Dinank Chitkara, Anil Rao, Afsaneh MastouriCurrency relationships have been in flux since early 2022. We analyze how these changes have impacted global equities and outline the economic and political events that could influence fixed-income performance over the balance of 2024.
Trends in Emerging-Market Sovereign Bonds
Research Report | Apr 30, 2024 | Ray Wang, Afsaneh MastouriSovereign bonds from emerging markets constitute a substantial proportion of the global asset universe. We look at the MSCI Emerging Markets Sovereign Bond Index to assess issuance trends, credit quality and other characteristics of index constituents.
Climate Glidepaths for Energy Portfolios
6 mins read Blog | Apr 16, 2024 | Juan Sampieri, Afsaneh MastouriSustainable investing often necessitates reducing portfolio emissions. But adding emission-reduction targets requires a careful navigation of market complexities and risk considerations alongside sustainability objectives. Could using a climate glidepath help?
Investment Trends in Focus: Quarterly Roundtable Q1 2024
Podcast | Jan 18, 2024 | Oliver Marchand, Raina Oberoi, Afsaneh Mastouri, Ashley LesterAshley Lester and team help investors find the connections between — and evaluate the risks and potential opportunities of — AI, geopolitics and the effects of climate change, as well as the growing importance of private capital and continued influence of monetary policy.
MSCI MarketAxess Tradable Corporate Bond Indexes: A Peek Under the Hood
Research Report | Nov 22, 2023 | Rohit Mendiratta, Ray Wang, Afsaneh MastouriWe look deep into these indexes to determine what’s led to their showing characteristics, such as duration, spread and yield, similar to those of the parent index, as well as similar risk-adjusted performance.
How Have Tradable-Bond Indexes Helped Investors Position in the Credit Market?
Research Report | Oct 25, 2023 | Afsaneh MastouriTradable-bond indexes consist of the most liquid subset of corporate bonds. Maintaining sector and credit-bucket allocations consistent with the underlying benchmark, these indexes may help investors track the market while positioning in more-liquid securities.
Net-Zero Glidepaths for Fixed-Income Portfolios
Research Report | Sep 12, 2023 | Afsaneh Mastouri, Juan SampieriA bond portfolio generates cash flows over time that include coupon payments and the face value of matured bonds, assuming no defaults. With controlled and systematic reinvestment of this cash flow, investors can gradually decarbonize their portfolios on a glidepath.
Understanding MSCI Climate Corporate Bond Indexes
Research Report | Jun 23, 2023 | Rohit Mendiratta, Afsaneh MastouriWe offer a comprehensive guide for investors to illustrate how a complex set of financial and climate targets and climate investment objectives can be simultaneously integrated into the construction of indexes as well as portfolios.
How Sovereigns Have Changed the Green-Bond Market
6 mins read Blog | Apr 19, 2023 | Afsaneh Mastouri, Bhaveer Shah, Vishakha PandeyGreen bonds’ issuance by governments has increased significantly and changed the green-bond universe and its indexes. Investors have had to adjust accordingly.
Corporate Bonds and Climate Change Risk
Research Report | Feb 22, 2023 | Afsaneh Mastouri, Rohit Mendiratta, Guido GieseIn this paper, we highlight to investors and portfolio managers the significance of climate-change risk for the value of corporate bonds, as well as provide a framework for further research in this area.
Net-Zero Alignment for Multi-Asset-Class Portfolios
7 mins read Blog | Sep 19, 2022 | Ashish Lodh, Guido Giese, Afsaneh MastouriAsset owners who want to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.5°C) have a tough row to hoe.
How Did Climate Corporate-Bond Indexes Weather Market Volatility?
7 mins read Blog | Aug 31, 2022 | Afsaneh MastouriClimate indexes tend to have a lower weighting (relative to parent indexes) allocated to companies in the emission-intensive energy, utilities and materials sectors. Did these indexes underperform in the year to date, given high recent energy prices?
Low Carbon and High Liquidity for Bond Investors?
7 mins read Blog | May 4, 2022 | Afsaneh MastouriAs corporate-bond investors embrace decarbonization as a goal in portfolio construction and management and benchmark selection, the question arises whether decarbonization targets are at odds with other desirable index attributes, such as liquidity.
Managing Climate-Transition Risk in Credit Portfolios
6 mins read Blog | Jan 31, 2022 | Afsaneh MastouriCan managers take an active approach to systematically managing exposure of a corporate-bond portfolio to climate-transition risk? We investigate two different approaches to decarbonizing credit portfolios.