MSCI Faces Scrutiny Over 'Non-Operating Business' Criteria

A think tank has questioned MSCI's methodology for identifying 'non-operating businesses' and excluding them from its indexes. The think tank, BPI, pointed to metadata showing that the source presentation behind MSCI's consultation was stored in an internal folder for digital asset treasury companies.

BPI argued that this finding 'warrants asking whether its broader language carried forward' MSCI's earlier effort to exclude digital asset treasury companies. The think tank also questioned how MSCI defines an operating company, noting that the term is not a standardized balance-sheet category under US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles or International Financial Reporting Standards.

Under MSCI's proposed methodology, Strategy and Metaplanet would be removed from its indexes. BPI warned that removing crypto treasury firms like these could force funds that track those benchmarks to sell their shares, potentially causing billions of dollars in outflows.