Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) Adopted by the Korea Exchange

NEW YORK, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor's business and a leading provider of financial market data, analytics and solutions, and MSCI Inc. announced today that the Korea Exchange is adopting the Global Industry Classification Standard and will publish GICS data through their website (www.krx.co.kr).

GICS — a joint product of Standard & Poor's and MSCI — was first developed in 1999 in response to the global financial community's need for a reliable, complete and standard industry classification system for categorizing equity securities. Using GICS, market participants can easily examine and compare the sector and industry makeup of nearly any portfolio or market worldwide.

The addition of GICS will enable Korean fund managers and other local market participants to examine their portfolio positions listed on the Korea Exchange with a broader, more global perspective than previously available.

"Korea is a vibrant, growing financial marketplace," said Randall Winn, executive managing director of Capital IQ. "We believe that the addition of GICS data is a critical resource for sector investing and portfolio diversification. This global data may also alleviate a bias to rely on domestic investments, and provide a greater opportunity to diversify portfolios with international investments."

"GICS is a fundamental component of MSCI indices and risk models — tools that are widely used in the construction and risk management of global equity portfolios," said Ted Niggli, managing director of MSCI. "We are delighted that the Korea Exchange has chosen to adopt the GICS standard which will enable foreign investors to analyze the sector diversity of the Korean equity market."

About Capital IQ and Standard & Poor's

Capital IQ, a Standard & Poor's business, delivers comprehensive fundamental and quantitative research and analysis solutions to over 4,200 investment management firms, investment banks, private equity funds, advisory firms, corporations, and universities worldwide. Its solutions are based on the Capital IQ Platform, Compustat, ClariFI, and AlphaWorks products, and offer an array of powerful applications for desktop research, screening, real-time market data, backtesting, portfolio management, financial modeling, and quantitative analysis. For more information, please visit Capital IQ's web site at www.capitaliq.com.

Standard & Poor's, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is the world's foremost provider of independent credit ratings, indices, risk evaluation, investment research and data. With offices in 23 countries and markets, Standard & Poor's is an essential part of the world's financial infrastructure and has played a leading role for 150 years in providing investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and financial decisions. For more information, visit www.standardandpoors.com.

About MSCI

MSCI Inc. is a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investors globally, including asset managers, banks, hedge funds and pension funds. MSCI products and services include indices, portfolio risk and performance analytics, and governance tools.

The company's flagship product offerings are: the MSCI indices which include over 120,000 daily indices covering more than 70 countries; Barra portfolio risk and performance analytics covering global equity and fixed income markets; RiskMetrics market and credit risk analytics; ISS governance research and outsourced proxy voting and reporting services; FEA valuation models and risk management software for the energy and commodities markets; and CFRA forensic accounting risk research, legal/regulatory risk assessment, and due-diligence. MSCI is headquartered in New York, with research and commercial offices around the world. For more information, visit www.msci.com.

SOURCE Capital IQ