Recent MSCI studies have shown historical positive correlation between environmental, social and governance considerations and corporate financial performance. Has this pattern held in emerging-market equities?

Recent studies by MSCI ESG Research have shown an historical link between ESG considerations and stronger corporate financial performance. Has this relationship applied to spread businesses, such as banks?

Contrary to concerns expressed by many observers, we found no compelling evidence of a negative impact from share buybacks on long-term value creation for investors overall. We did find, however, that buybacks can impact long-term investment returns differently for active and index investors. Over the periods we observed, Companies where index investors were the largest shareholders included a much wider range of buyback impacts, good and bad, than companies where the largest shareholders...

When it comes to ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing, conventional wisdom holds that G is the only part that really matters, as a window into overall management quality and providing insights and value for investors. Our analysis suggests this has not been true; that the E and S aspects of ESG did help sort the truly outstanding firms from a group that already shares an array of robust financial traits.

In this paper we apply an ESG filter to a highly selective universe of 100 companies that have already been screened for value creation as measured by ROIC, economic spread, margins and asset turnover ratio. We found that those with higher ESG Ratings had higher average ROIC and were valued at a premium compared to companies with lower ESG ratings.

Studies have asked whether having multiple women on a board of directors has translated into better financial performance. But is that the whole story? Does the number of women on boards relate to a company’s overall human capital policies and its financial performance? Our findings suggest that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Companies with both a more diverse board and stronger talent management practices enjoyed higher growth in employee productivity compared to companies...