MSCI Launches PACS™ to Enhance Transparency in Private Asset Investments

On October 14, 2025, in Tokyo, MSCI announced the launch of its Private Asset Classification Standards (PACS™), addressing a significant gap in the private investment market. As institutional investors expand their asset allocations and wealth from affluent individuals flows into private assets, the need for a common framework to classify exposure and measure performance has become critical. Current methods lack transparency, which hinders industry growth.

MSCI PACS™ has been crafted as a solution to this pressing issue. It is a proprietary asset classification framework specifically designed to bring order, comparability, and consistency to the private market. Covering a broad range of private assets, including private companies, real estate, and infrastructure, PACS™ offers detailed classification criteria useful for benchmarking, analyzing, and communicating portfolio strategies and performance throughout the investment lifecycle.

As an internationally recognized taxonomy focused on private assets, MSCI PACS™ leverages MSCI's extensive experience in providing various standards and tools. This is built on their historical role in developing global industry classification standards (GICS®), which are used for classifying and comparing publicly traded companies. The PACS™ framework operates as a managed data service empowered by AI technology, ensuring robust transparency and comparability in the private market through consistent sector classifications on a large scale.

Luke Flammer, Head of MSCI's Private Assets Division, remarked, "The private market is reaching a pivotal moment as its presence within the global financial ecosystem continues to expand. Through MSCI PACS™, we are introducing a framework that will shape the identification, comparison, and analysis of private assets for the long term."

MSCI is not stopping at just the PACS launch; they are dedicated to providing tools, research, and data that enhance market transparency and support informed decision-making across entire portfolios for professionals in the private market. This introduction reflects MSCI’s commitment to improving the dynamics of private asset investments, a commitment that is embodied in the tools and resources they provide through their Private Assets initiative. For more detailed information, you can visit MSCI Private Assets.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc. (NYSE: MSCI) plays a pivotal role in strengthening global markets by connecting participants across the financial ecosystem with a common language. Backed by extensive research and the latest technology, MSCI’s indices, data, and risk analysis tools establish standards for global investors to better understand risks and investment opportunities. This empowers them to make informed decisions and foster innovation. MSCI serves a diverse clientele, including asset managers, asset owners, private market sponsors, hedge funds, wealth managers, banks, insurance companies, and corporations. For further details, visit www.msci.com.

Note: GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) was developed collaboratively by MSCI Inc. and S&P Dow Jones Indices.