MSCI: new eligibility rules to come into effect in November

Methodology and timing

MSCI confirmed on 15 October 2026 the evolution of its criteria for companies qualified as non-operational. The method will come into effect during the November review, with effect after the close of 30 November. The final list of affected constituents is to be published on 11 November: the adopted rule and its result are therefore not the same information.

The system starts by examining the existence of substantial operational assets. Companies that fail this first filter then undergo an examination based on five financial ratios. Exclusion becomes possible when four of these ratios trigger the signal provided by the method. Securities already present benefit from different maintenance conditions than those applicable to candidates for entry.

Distinguishing the effects

The announcement also puts an end, as part of this review, to the provisional measures targeting certain companies highly exposed to digital assets. Their eligibility will be assessed in the new common framework. This methodological evolution does not, on its own, allow for the presentation of each company holding bitcoin as definitively excluded.

An index is a constructed representation of a set of securities. Its provider first defines the market covered, then the selection criteria and weightings. Market capitalization can be used to measure the weight of a company; it corresponds to the number of shares multiplied by their price. It describes a different dimension from revenue or staff numbers.

Revisions update this composition as companies and markets evolve. They distinguish between the publication of a rule, the identification of the securities concerned, and the date of entry into force. To follow this case, these steps are more useful than a conclusion about all companies possessing cryptocurrencies. The next pieces of information will be the names retained and the modalities applicable to each one. The announcement describes the process; the November publication will allow the consequences to be seen.

Common rules and different company situations

Holding cryptoassets and receiving a classification under an index methodology are connected but distinct matters. The provider applies defined criteria to companies in its universe. The presence of an asset on a balance sheet does not replace that assessment. Methodological documents therefore need to be read alongside the results published at each review, without turning a general category into an automatic conclusion about every security that appears to resemble it. The classification process depends on the actual criteria and the relevant company information.

Imagine two companies holding a digital asset while operating different businesses. Their situations can be assessed differently if the criteria distinguish their revenue, assets and organisation. A comparison based only on the amount of bitcoin held would then omit part of the process. This example explains why the methodology, the data used and the retention conditions need to be considered together. Eligibility is a defined result within a particular index framework, rather than a universal judgment about every aspect of a company's activity or quality.

The index and products tracking it

An index change does not directly describe every investor's decisions. Some products may seek to track the benchmark under their own arrangements and adjustment schedules. Other participants use different references. Publication of an exclusion and transactions actually occurring in a market are therefore distinct events. The decisive information in this case remains the announced list, the effective date and the explanations applying to the affected companies. Those details provide a firmer basis for understanding the change than broad estimates of market consequences that have not yet been observed.