MSCI: Linking Local Investment to Global Expertise
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) hosted the MSCI Institutional Investor Forum at its headquarters last Tuesday, bringing together a select group of senior institutional investment specialists to discuss the key transformations reshaping global markets and their implications for portfolio construction, asset allocation, and risk management.
This marks the second consecutive year the KSE has hosted the forum, which is one of three exclusive MSCI events in the Middle East scheduled for 2026.
The forum opened with a welcome address by Justin Kennedy-Lund, MSCI’s Regional Head for the Middle East, followed by a series of specialized sessions addressing the major variables influencing the global investment landscape.
Ashley Lester, Head of Research and Development at MSCI, presented a session titled “Investment Positioning in a Changing World: Navigating AI, Geopolitics, and the New Investment Paradigm,” examining the impact of artificial intelligence and geopolitical shifts on investment opportunities, portfolio construction, and strategic asset allocation. Meanwhile, Siebert Kruger, Head of Institutional Investment Research at MSCI, discussed the evolution of public market structures, factor investment analytics, innovation in index design, and the pursuit of additional return sources in a dynamic investment environment.
In the context of private markets, Odai Karey, Vice President in MSCI’s Research and Development division, highlighted the importance of enhancing transparency and data quality in investment valuation and performance measurement, enabling more consistent analytical comparisons between public and private market exposures.
Bentley Kaplan, Vice President in MSCI’s Research and Development division, concluded the sessions by exploring the relationship between sustainability and climate data and financial performance in Gulf markets, as well as the role of new data in broadening the scope of structural exposure and investment risk analysis.
The forum also provided an opportunity for direct dialogue between brokers, asset managers, and other participants with MSCI’s research leadership on market structure evolution, index innovation, and investment exposure analysis, supporting the adoption of practices and tools relied upon by global institutional investors.
For listed companies, the forum offered deeper insights into the priorities of institutional investors, particularly regarding data quality, transparency, sustainability, and risk management. These themes align with the KSE’s efforts to enhance investor relations practices, disclosure, sustainability, and engagement with a broader base of local and international investors.
Commenting on hosting the event for the second consecutive year, Noura Al-Abdulkarim, Head of Markets at the KSE, stated: “The investment environment is changing at an accelerating pace, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence and data, geopolitical shifts, and the growth of private markets. This underscores the importance of direct dialogue with global research and investment institutions. Kuwait’s inclusion in the regional tour of the MSCI Institutional Investor Forum reflects the growing prominence of the Kuwaiti capital market within the region’s institutional investment ecosystem.”
She added: “The KSE is committed to providing listed companies, investors, and market participants with direct access to the latest global research, insights, and practices, based on the belief that knowledge and information quality are fundamental to supporting market efficiency and more informed investment decision-making. The forum is part of the Exchange’s efforts to strengthen the Kuwaiti capital market’s presence in global investment discourse and deepen cooperation with MSCI.”
The forum strengthens direct engagement between Kuwait’s investment community and global institutional expertise, at a time when specialized data and research are increasingly vital for understanding risks and opportunities and constructing investment portfolios.
For his part, Kennedy-Lund stated: “Today, investment institutions operate in an environment characterized by accelerating geopolitical and technological shifts and growing interconnectivity between public and private markets. This elevates the importance of specialized research, high-quality data, and advanced analytical tools in understanding risks and opportunities and building portfolios that are more resilient to change. We value our collaboration with the Kuwait Stock Exchange in bringing together investors, decision-makers, and experts to discuss the issues reshaping the global investment landscape.”
In 2019, MSCI announced the reclassification of Kuwait from a frontier market to an emerging market, with the decision taking effect in November 2020.
On the inclusion date, November 30, 2020, when seven Kuwaiti companies were added to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, trading volume exceeded KWD 961.6 million, marking one of the highest daily trading levels recorded by the market.
The knowledge exchange between the Kuwait Stock Exchange and MSCI has expanded to include specialized events addressing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on markets, governance standards and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, the global investment landscape and its implications for regional markets, culminating in the Institutional Investors Forum.
Hosting the forum for the second year also reflects the evolution of the relationship between the two parties, from the milestone of the market’s reclassification within global indices to a broader institutional dialogue on trends influencing capital allocation, portfolio construction, and risk management.
