Index provider MSCI has launched a new family of factor indices for seven country and regional Latin American markets.
Diana Tidd, head of the MSCI index business in the Americas, said that this is the first full suite of factor indices covering the Latin America market and that the launch is part of the firm’s ongoing commitment to providing its clients in the region tools to support investment processes.
“We have launched these new factor indexes not only in response to the increasing demand for indexes to serve as the basis for index-based investment products in Latin America, but also because of the global trend toward factor investing,” said Tidd.
Equity factor investing was pioneered in the 1970s based on research, data and analytics created by Barra – today an MSCI company.
In recent years, MSCI has developed a range of indices that provide institutional investors with a basis for implementing a transparent and passive approach to seeking the excess returns historically obtained over long time horizons through active factor investing.
In 2008, MSCI introduced the industry’s first Minimum Volatility Index. MSCI said that more than $90bn in assets are benchmarked to MSCI factor indices.