MSCI Inc.

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MSCI third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session where participants are requested to ask one question at a time, then add themselves back into the queue for any additional questions. We will have further instructions for you later on. I would not like to attend the call. Over to Jeremy Ulan, Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. You may begin.

Thank you, operator. Good day and welcome to the MSCI third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Earlier this morning, we issued a press release announcing our results for the third quarter 2026. This press release, along with an earnings presentation, are available on our website, msci.com, and under the investor relations tab. Let me remind you that this call contains forward-looking statements which are governed by the language on the second slide of the presentation. Your caution not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date on which they are made are based on current expectations and current economic conditions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, please see the risk factors in forward-looking statements disclaimer in our most recent form 10-K and in our other SEC filings. During today's call, in addition to results presented on the basis of U.S. GAAP, we also refer to non-GAAP measures. You'll find a reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures to the equivalent GAAP measures in the appendix of the earnings presentation. We will also discuss operating metrics such as run rate and retention rate. Important information regarding our use of operating metrics, such as run rate and retention rate, are available in the earnings presentation. On the call today are Henry Fernandez, our chairman and CEO, Andy Wiechmann, our chief financial officer, and Alvise Munari, our chief product officer and head of client segments, who will be joining for the Q&A session. With that, let me now turn the call over to Henry Fernandez. Henry? Thank you, Jeremy.

Good day, everyone. and thank you for joining us. In the third quarter, MSCI delivered strong financial and operating metrics, including historic net new sales in index, analytics and private capital solutions, plus another record quarter for asset-based fees. We have built impressive momentum across these three product lines. While sustainability and climate continue to face challenges, we believe that our recent acquisition of FirstGrip will help accelerate a return to higher growth in climate. These results show that MSCI is expanding our mission critical role in global investing. even as we transform our business to an AI-first company. Since our IPO 19 years ago, MSCI has demonstrated a strong and consistent track record of execution. This foundation positions us well to capture expanding opportunities both across client segments and a growing range of solutions. We have multiple dimensions of growth and a compelling opportunity to compound over the long term. Financially, our strong Q3 performance included total revenue growth of 12.4%, ABF revenue growth of 25% Subscription revenue growth of 8%, adjusted EBITDA growth of 12%, and adjusted EPS growth of 14%. From July 1st through October 19th, we repurchased $627 million of MSCI shares at an average price of $562 per share. Since the beginning of 2024, we have opportunistically repurchased nearly 8 million shares for $4.4 billion. During the same period, I have personally purchased an additional 57,000 shares for $30.1 million. These purchases unequivocally demonstrate our strong belief in the potential of the MSCI franchise. Operationally, in Q3, MSCI achieved total run rate growth of 12%, fueled by a record ADF run rate of almost $1 billion. Our ABF performance reflected record AUM levels in ETFs and non-ETF products linked to MSCI indices, including inflows of $76 billion. There are now nearly $23 trillion of AUM benchmarked to MSCI indices. Of that $23 trillion, Roughly $15 trillion is actively managed, while $8 trillion is indexed. We also posted subscription run rate growth of 9% after adding nearly $55 million in recurring net new sales. And we delivered a retention rate of 95% and improvement of 30 basis points from Q3 of last year. MSCI is a long-term compounder driven by both ABF and subscription growth. On the overall subscription side, Q3 was our best-ever quarter for recurring net new sales in analytics and private capital solutions, along with our best-ever Q3 for recurring net new sales in index. Compared with a year earlier, recurring net new sales grew by 88% in PCS, 63% in analytics, and 40% in index. Notably, MSCI saw robust demand by both our traditional and newer solutions. In fact, We continue to see consistent growth in recurring sales from our newer products. And importantly, our higher pace of innovation is strengthening sales of our existing products as we continue to deliver greater value to clients. Virtually all those newer products are powered by artificial intelligence. Q3 also show our diversified strength across regions. Recurrent net new sales grew by 74% in EMEA, 36% in APAC, and 26% in the Americas. Indeed, we achieved our best-ever quarter in APAC, driven by analytics. MSCI is unlocking additional growth layers through our recently announced partnerships and acquisitions. In Q3, for example, we formalized the landmark agreement with UBS that we first announced back in July. This agreement will extend the reach of our private asset solutions, strengthen connections between GPs and wealth managers, and promote greater transparency across private markets. Similarly, our acquisition of the AI-native platform VantageR, now the MSCI Private Asset Diligence Platform, enabled us to complete a major deal with a large US bank. At the client segment level, MSCI achieved a record quarter with asset owners. more than tripling our recurring net new sales from a year earlier, driven by demand for our total portfolio solutions and our integrated risk and portfolio management analytics. Our largest deal of the quarter moved MSEI from a vendor relationship to a strategic portfolio analytics partner for one of Asia's biggest and most sophisticated sovereign wealth funds. We also closed a number of major analytics and index deals with top hedge funds, including deals for our equity models and custom index modules. Finally, we maintained our steady performance with asset managers globally while achieving a strong quarter in EMEA where we posted 35% recurring net new sales growth. Despite the ongoing retention pressures in sustainability and climate, we entered Q4 with solid momentum and a strong client engagement across the whole MSEI franchise. We are incredibly excited about the expansion of MSCI's offering through new use cases for newer client segments such as wealth managers, banks as lenders, GPs, and insurance companies in their underwriting processes. We are delivering and expanding MSCI by leveraging what we already do for our more traditional clients such as asset managers, asset owners, traders and hedge funds. MSCI truly is a one-of-a-kind company that is uniquely positioned to benefit from the biggest transformations reshaping the global investment and Finance Industries. And with that, let me turn things over to Andy.