明晟 (MSCI) 2026 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the MSCI third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

各位女士、先生，大家好，歡迎參加MSCI 2026年第三季財報電話會議。提醒各位，本次電話會議將被錄音。（接線員指示）

I would now like to turn the call over to Jeremy Ulan, Head of Investor Relations and Treasurer. You may begin.

現在我想把電話交給投資人關係主管兼財務主管（Treasurer）Jeremy Ulan。您可以開始了。

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.

謝謝，接線員。各位好，歡迎參加MSCI 2026年第三季財報電話會議。今天稍早，我們發布新聞稿，公布2026年第三季業績。該新聞稿以及財報簡報可於我們網站msci.com的「投資人關係」分頁取得。

Let me remind you that this call contains forward-looking statements, which are governed by the language on the second slide of the presentation. You are cautioned 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 and forward-looking statements disclaimer in our most recent Form 10-K and in our other SEC filings.

提醒各位，本次電話會議包含前瞻性陳述，並受簡報第二頁所載文字之規範。敬請注意勿過度依賴前瞻性陳述；此等陳述僅反映其作成當日之情況，係基於目前預期與當前經濟狀況，且受各項風險與不確定性影響，可能導致實際結果與此等前瞻性陳述所預期之結果出現重大差異。關於其他風險與不確定性的討論，請參閱我們最新的Form 10-K以及其他向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）提交文件中的風險因素與前瞻性陳述免責聲明。

During today's call, in addition to results presented on the basis of US 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.

在今天的電話會議中，除依照美國一般公認會計原則（US GAAP）呈報的結果外，我們也會提及非GAAP衡量指標。您可在財報簡報附錄中找到我們非GAAP衡量指標與相對應GAAP衡量指標之調節表。我們也將討論營運指標，例如年化收入基礎（run rate）與留存率（retention rate）。關於我們使用年化收入基礎與留存率等營運指標的重要資訊，已載於財報簡報中。

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.

今天與會者包括：董事長兼執行長Henry Fernandez；財務長Andy Wiechmann；以及產品長兼客戶分部主管Alvise Munari，他將在問答環節加入。

With that, let me now turn the call over to Henry Fernandez. Henry?

接下來，我把電話交給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 First Street 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.

謝謝你，Jeremy。各位好，感謝各位加入我們。第三季，MSCI交出強勁的財務與營運指標，包括指數（Index）、分析（Analytics）與私募資本解決方案（Private Capital Solutions）創歷史新高的淨新增銷售額，以及資產基礎費用（asset-based fees）再創單季新高。我們在這三條產品線上建立了令人印象深刻的動能。儘管永續與氣候（Sustainability and Climate）仍面臨挑戰，我們相信近期收購First Street將有助於加速氣候業務回到更高成長軌道。這些成果顯示，即使我們正將公司轉型為AI優先（AI-first）企業，MSCI仍在全球投資領域擴大其關鍵任務（mission-critical）的角色。

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.

自19年前首次公開募股（IPO）以來，MSCI展現了強勁且一致的執行紀錄。這一基礎使我們能夠把握不斷擴大的機會，涵蓋各類客戶分群以及日益多元的解決方案。我們具備多重成長維度，並擁有長期複利成長的極具吸引力機會。

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%.

在財務表現方面，我們第三季的強勁表現包括：總營收成長12.4%、資產基礎費用（ABF）營收成長25%、訂閱營收成長8%、調整後EBITDA成長12%，以及調整後每股盈餘（EPS）成長14%。

From July 1 through October 19, 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.

自7月1日至10月19日，我們以每股平均562美元的價格回購了6.27億美元的MSCI股票。自2024年初以來，我們把握時機回購了近800萬股，總金額44億美元。在同一期間，我個人也額外買入57,000股，金額3,010萬美元。這些買入行動明確展現我們對MSCI特許經營（franchise）潛力的強烈信心。

Operationally, in Q3, MSCI achieved total run rate growth of 12%, fueled by a record ABF run rate of almost $1 billion. Our ABF performance reflected record AUM levels in ETF 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%, an improvement of 30 basis points from Q3 of last year.

在營運方面，第三季MSCI的總年化收入基礎（run rate）成長12%，主要由接近10億美元、創紀錄的ABF年化收入基礎所帶動。我們的ABF表現反映出與MSCI指數連結的ETF與非ETF產品之資產管理規模（AUM）創新高，其中包含760億美元的資金淨流入。目前約有23兆美元的AUM以MSCI指數作為基準。在這23兆美元中，約15兆美元為主動管理，8兆美元為指數化管理。在新增近5,500萬美元的經常性淨新增銷售額後，我們的訂閱年化收入基礎成長9%。我們也達成95%的留存率，較去年第三季提升30個基點。

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.

MSCI是一家由ABF與訂閱成長共同驅動的長期複利成長公司。就整體訂閱業務而言，第三季是我們分析（Analytics）與私募資本解決方案（PCS）經常性淨新增銷售額史上最佳單季，同時也是指數（Index）業務第三季經常性淨新增銷售額史上最佳。與一年前相比，PCS的經常性淨新增銷售額成長88%，分析成長63%，指數成長40%。

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.

值得注意的是，MSCI在傳統解決方案與較新解決方案上都看到強勁需求。事實上，我們持續看到較新產品帶來的經常性銷售穩定成長。更重要的是，隨著我們持續為客戶提供更高價值，更快的創新步伐也正在強化既有產品的銷售。幾乎所有這些較新產品都由人工智慧驅動。

Q3 also showed our diversified strength across regions. Recurring 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.

第三季也展現我們在各地區的多元化優勢。經常性淨新增銷售額在歐洲、中東及非洲（EMEA）成長74%，在亞太（APAC）成長36%，在美洲成長26%。我們確實在亞太地區創下史上最佳單季表現，主要由分析業務帶動。

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.

MSCI正透過近期宣布的合作夥伴關係與併購，解鎖更多成長層次。例如在第三季，我們正式敲定了7月首次宣布的與瑞銀（UBS）的里程碑式協議。該協議將擴大我們私募資產解決方案的觸及範圍，強化普通合夥人（GP）與財富管理機構之間的連結，並促進私募市場更高的透明度。

Similarly, our acquisition of the AI-native platform, Vantager, now the MSCI's 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 MSCI 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.

同樣地，我們收購AI原生平台Vantager（現為MSCI的私募資產盡職調查平台），使我們得以與一家大型美國銀行完成一筆重大交易。在客戶分部層面，MSCI在資產所有人（asset owners）客群創下單季新高，經常性淨新增銷售額較一年前增加逾三倍，主要由我們的整體投資組合解決方案，以及整合式風險與投資組合管理分析工具的需求所帶動。本季最大的一筆交易，使MSCI從供應商關係提升為亞洲最大且最成熟的主權財富基金之一的策略性投資組合分析合作夥伴。我們也與頂尖避險基金完成多筆重要的分析與指數交易，包括我們的股票模型與客製化指數模組相關交易。

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 MSCI franchise.

最後，我們在全球資產管理機構（asset managers）客群維持穩健表現，同時在EMEA交出強勁的一季，經常性淨新增銷售額成長35%。儘管永續與氣候業務仍面臨持續的留存壓力，我們以穩固動能進入第四季，且整個MSCI特許經營體系的客戶互動依然強勁。

We are incredibly excited about the expansion of MSCI's offerings 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 industry.

我們對於透過新使用情境，將MSCI的產品供給擴展至較新的客戶分群（例如財富管理機構、作為放款人的銀行、普通合夥人（GP），以及在核保流程中的保險公司）感到非常振奮。我們正運用既有能力，將MSCI的服務交付並擴展到更多領域；這些能力原本即用於較傳統的客戶，例如資產管理機構、資產所有人、交易員與避險基金。MSCI確實是一家獨一無二的公司，具備得天獨厚的定位，可望受惠於正在重塑全球投資與金融產業的重大轉型。

And with that, let me turn things over to Andy.

說到這裡，讓我把時間交給 Andy。

Thank you, Henry. Hi, everyone. Our strong results reflect our rapid pace of innovation, our effective go-to-market execution and the growing ecosystem around our tools. We believe this momentum is sustainable, and we continue to have an attractive pipeline of opportunities. MSCI is a powerful compounder and the run rate algorithm was on full display with continued double-digit subscription growth in Index, high single-digit growth in Analytics, accelerating growth in Private Assets and outsized secular growth in asset-based fees.

謝謝你，Henry。各位好。我們的強勁成果反映了我們快速的創新步伐、有效的市場推進執行力，以及圍繞我們工具日益壯大的生態系。我們相信這股動能具有可持續性，且我們持續擁有具吸引力的機會管線。MSCI 是一個強大的複利成長機器，而「run rate」演算法也充分展現：指數（Index）訂閱持續雙位數成長、分析（Analytics）高個位數成長、私募資產（Private Assets）成長加速，以及資產為基礎費用（asset-based fees）呈現超額的長期結構性成長。

Across client segments, we saw double-digit growth with non-asset manager segments and mid- to high single-digit growth among asset managers. This algorithm, combined with inherent operating leverage and ongoing capital optimization allows us to fuel consistent compounding value creation. And the momentum in the business is evident with LTM recurring net new subscription sales up 26%.

在各客戶分群中，我們看到非資產管理人（non-asset manager）分群呈現雙位數成長，而資產管理人（asset managers）則為中到高個位數成長。這套演算法結合內建的營運槓桿與持續的資本最佳化，使我們能推動一致且複利式的價值創造。此外，業務動能也很明顯：過去十二個月（LTM）的經常性淨新增訂閱銷售額成長 26%。

Drilling down into Index, organic subscription run rate growth accelerated further to 11.7%. Powerful indexation trends drove double-digit subscription growth across hedge funds, banks and brokers, wealth managers and asset owners, of 32%, 15%, 10% and 10%, respectively. And the retention rate was over 97% across index, including a retention rate of 98% with asset managers.

進一步看指數（Index）業務，有機訂閱 run rate 成長再加速至 11.7%。強勁的指數化趨勢帶動避險基金、銀行與券商、財富管理機構以及資產所有人（asset owners）的訂閱分別達到 32%、15%、10% 與 10% 的雙位數成長。而在指數業務整體的留存率超過 97%，其中資產管理人的留存率為 98%。

Additionally, asset-based fees were fueled by $76 billion of equity ETF cash inflows concentrated in developed markets ex US and emerging markets. This was our second highest quarter of inflows behind only the first quarter of this year.

此外，資產為基礎費用受惠於股票 ETF 現金流入 760 億美元，主要集中在美國以外的已開發市場與新興市場。這是我們單季流入規模第二高，僅次於今年第一季。

Within Analytics, we had organic subscription run rate growth of 7.5%, driven by several large strategic client wins with asset owners and wealth managers. These clients are seeking to modernize their investment platforms, integrate risk and portfolio management workflows and enhance investment decision-making alongside sustained demand for our factor content. As we have mentioned, Analytics operating metrics will be lumpy quarter-to-quarter, but the trend has been encouraging with LTM recurring net new up 18% over the prior LTM period, driven by strong momentum in key areas.

在分析（Analytics）方面，我們的有機訂閱 run rate 成長為 7.5%，主要由多個與資產所有人及財富管理機構的大型策略性客戶得標所帶動。這些客戶希望現代化其投資平台、整合風險與投資組合管理工作流程，並在對我們因子內容（factor content）需求持續的同時，提升投資決策品質。如同我們先前提到的，Analytics 的營運指標在季度之間會有波動，但趨勢令人鼓舞：過去十二個月（LTM）的經常性淨新增較前一個 LTM 期間成長 18%，主要由關鍵領域的強勁動能所驅動。

In Private Capital Solutions, subscription run rate growth accelerated to 19%. We see growing demand across existing solutions like our Transparency, Private Capital Intel and Total Plan offerings, and we are building momentum in newer offerings like our data and diligence platforms. Additionally, we are seeing good traction in landing benchmark wins across asset owners.

在私募資本解決方案（Private Capital Solutions）方面，訂閱 run rate 成長加速至 19%。我們看到既有解決方案（如 Transparency、Private Capital Intel 與 Total Plan 方案）需求持續增長，同時也在較新的產品（如我們的資料與盡職調查平台）上建立動能。此外，我們也看到在資產所有人客群中取得基準（benchmark）得標的良好進展。

In Real Assets, organic subscription run rate growth was 2%, supported by improving client retention and clients seeking broader data access through Snowflake.

在實體資產（Real Assets）方面，有機訂閱 run rate 成長為 2%，主要受惠於客戶留存改善，以及客戶透過 Snowflake 尋求更廣泛的資料存取。

In the Sustainability and Climate reportable segment, we executed over $5 million of new recurring sales in Sustainability and over $2 million of new recurring sales in Climate. We saw elevated cancels with one sizable downsell related to a client rightsizing its sustainability spend. Meanwhile, in Climate, run rate growth across MSCI product lines was 8%, excluding the impact of First Street.

在永續與氣候（Sustainability and Climate）可報導分部，我們在永續（Sustainability）完成超過 500 萬美元的新增經常性銷售，在氣候（Climate）完成超過 200 萬美元的新增經常性銷售。我們看到取消（cancels）偏高，其中包含一筆較大的降購（downsells），與某客戶縮減其永續支出規模有關。同時，在氣候方面，若排除 First Street 的影響，MSCI 各產品線的 run rate 成長為 8%。

Demand for our physical risk solutions, including from recently acquired First Street is growing. The integration of First Street remains on track and client engagement has been very strong.

我們的實體風險（physical risk）解決方案需求正在成長，其中也包括近期收購的 First Street 所帶來的需求。First Street 的整合仍按計畫推進，且客戶互動非常強勁。

As we mentioned last quarter, the pressures on parts of the sustainability franchise are expected to continue through the fourth quarter. We expect the Sustainability and Climate reporting segment to have recurring net new sales that are roughly flat to slightly positive in the fourth quarter.

如同我們上季提到的，永續業務部分領域所面臨的壓力預期將延續至第四季。我們預期永續與氣候報導分部在第四季的經常性淨新增銷售將大致持平至小幅正成長。

Turning to our guidance. Adjusted EBITDA expenses in the third quarter were in line with the level we indicated in September, driven by the impact of recent acquisitions, higher performance stock-based compensation and higher severance as we unlock efficiencies ahead of schedule. Given these items, which enhance the franchise heading into 2027 and the strong top line momentum this year, we expect to be at the top end of our expense guidance ranges for 2026.

接著談我們的財測指引。第三季調整後 EBITDA 費用與我們 9 月所指引的水準一致，主要受近期收購影響、績效型股票基礎薪酬（stock-based compensation）較高，以及我們提前釋放效率所帶來的較高資遣費（severance）所驅動。考量這些項目（其將在邁向 2027 年之際強化我們的事業版圖）以及今年強勁的營收動能，我們預期 2026 年費用將落在我們費用指引區間的上緣。

To provide more color on the elevated expense items in 2026, acquisitions are expected to add roughly $20 million of additional expenses this year. The incremental accruals of performance stock options, which are mostly driven by higher-than-expected AUM growth in products linked to our indexes and the strong business momentum are expected to add roughly $15 million to $20 million of noncash expenses and severance is expected to be roughly $10 million to $15 million higher than originally planned, reflecting the acceleration of efficiencies and the AI transformation across the organization.

為了更具體說明 2026 年較高的費用項目，收購預期今年將增加約 2,000 萬美元的額外費用。績效型股票選擇權的增量提列（incremental accruals）主要由與我們指數連結產品的資產管理規模（AUM）成長高於預期，以及強勁的業務動能所驅動，預期將增加約 1,500 萬至 2,000 萬美元的非現金費用；而資遣費預期將較原先規劃高出約 1,000 萬至 1,500 萬美元，反映效率提升的加速以及全組織的 AI 轉型。

Despite our high level of investment and the addition of four acquisitions, headcount has remained roughly flat compared to a year ago. This reflects our ability to leverage AI to transform the company for the future, accelerate the pace of innovation and drive faster growth.

儘管我們維持高投資水準並新增四項收購，員工人數相較一年前仍大致持平。這反映我們能運用 AI 來推動公司面向未來的轉型、加快創新步伐並帶動更快成長。

Additionally, we increased the interest expense guidance as a result of higher revolver balances to support our opportunistic share repurchases. We also narrowed the tax rate guidance for the full year to 18% to 19.5%.

此外，由於循環信貸（revolver）餘額較高以支援我們機會型庫藏股回購（opportunistic share repurchases），我們上調了利息費用指引。我們也將全年稅率指引區間縮窄至 18% 至 19.5%。

Overall, we remain well positioned for and committed to delivering very attractive profitability growth while investing for the long term. In summary, our Q3 results show consistent execution across product lines and client segments. We are pairing continued investment in growth areas with strong financial discipline, and we have the flexibility to adjust as conditions evolve. We look forward to keeping you posted as we deliver on our priorities.

整體而言，我們仍具備良好定位，並致力於在長期投資的同時，交付非常具吸引力的獲利成長。總結來說，我們第三季（Q3）結果顯示在各產品線與客戶分群上皆持續穩健執行。我們在持續投資成長領域的同時，也維持強健的財務紀律，並具備隨環境演變而調整的彈性。我們將在推進各項優先事項的同時，持續向各位更新進展。

And with that, operator, please open the line for questions.

說到這裡，接線員，請開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Toni Kaplan, Morgan Stanley.

(接線員指示) Toni Kaplan，摩根士丹利。

Henry, I wanted to ask a longer-term question on Analytics. I was wondering how you're thinking about the future in terms of the product platform and distribution, just given the advancements in AI. How do you think customers will be interacting with your data, with your platform? Just trying to think of from a long-term perspective over the next few years, how you think that this is going to change?

Henry，我想就 Analytics 提一個較長期的問題。考量 AI 的進展，我想了解你們如何看待未來在產品平台與通路（distribution）方面的發展。你認為客戶未來會如何與你們的資料、你們的平台互動？我想從未來幾年的長期角度思考，你認為這會如何改變？

Thank you for the question, Toni. The first thing to keep in mind that you know well is at MSCI, we run a fully integrated company, in which each product line feeds off and feeds into other product lines. In the past, maybe more distant past, we viewed Analytics, especially our risk management platform -- risk and performance management platform as one of the more important product line.

謝謝你的問題，Toni。首先要記住的一點，你也很清楚：在 MSCI，我們是一家完全整合的公司，每一條產品線都會從其他產品線汲取並回饋到其他產品線。在過去——也許是更早以前——我們把 Analytics，特別是我們的風險管理平台——風險與績效管理平台——視為較重要的產品線之一。

In the recent past, we have begun to develop a strategy that help us take this extremely important product line and make it much more strategic and much more value added. So for example, in our risk management platform, we get enormous amount of portfolio data that, in general, we have rights to anonymize and aggregate and things like that, that could develop new products.

在近期，我們開始制定一項策略，協助我們把這條極其重要的產品線變得更具策略性、也更能創造附加價值。例如，在我們的風險管理平台上，我們取得大量投資組合資料；一般而言，我們擁有將其匿名化與彙總等權利，並可用以開發新產品。

Secondly, we know -- in the risk management and performance platform, we know what the clients are doing every single day by them having their portfolios and running reports in our platform. So we're developing plans to propose to the clients, why don't you do this? Why don't you look at this? Why don't you think of this new product, this new idea, this new this, this new that? And AI is going to help us do that because otherwise, we'll have to have humans do that.

第二，在風險管理與績效平台中，客戶每天把投資組合放在我們的平台上並產出報表，因此我們知道客戶每天在做什麼。所以我們正在制定計畫向客戶提出建議：你何不這樣做？你何不看看這個？你何不考慮這個新產品、這個新想法、這個新的這個、那個新的那個？而 AI 將幫助我們做到這點，否則就必須由人力來完成。

So anyhow, so the last point that I will make, therefore, is MSCI is an analytics company. In totality, we -- by history, we're a modeling company therefore, an analytics company. Models, the index methodologies are models, the risk -- the factor models, the risk model -- the other risk models, the ESG ratings are models, all of that. So we need to -- we are in the process of integrating the company into a more holistic analytics shop with proprietary data and very advanced new AI technology to gather the data, process the data and help our clients consume the content, the data and the models much more effectively. So that's the vision of analytics at MSCI.

總之，我最後要講的一點是：MSCI 是一家分析公司。整體而言——從歷史來看，我們是一家建模公司，因此也是一家分析公司。模型——指數方法論是模型；風險——因子模型、風險模型——其他風險模型、ESG 評級都是模型，所有這些都是。因此我們需要——我們正在把公司整合成一家更全面的分析平台，結合專有數據與非常先進的新 AI 技術，用來蒐集數據、處理數據，並幫助客戶更有效地使用內容、數據與模型。這就是 MSCI 的分析願景。

Alex Kramm, UBS.

Alex Kramm，瑞銀（UBS）。

You talked about strong momentum in the business continuing. So maybe you can be a little bit more specific. I know we're only 20 days into the quarter, but if you think across the business, you talked about Sustainability being weak again in the 4Q. But where are you seeing strong momentum as it relates to maybe last year because the 4Q is the strongest sales quarter usually in the year. So just any more color around pipelines to give us some comfort for the momentum into year-end, please?

你談到業務持續保持強勁動能。所以也許你可以更具體一點。我知道本季才過了 20 天，但如果從整體業務來看，你提到永續業務在第四季（4Q）再次偏弱。但相較於去年——因為第四季通常是一年中最強的銷售季度——你在哪些領域看到強勁動能？所以，能否就管線（pipeline）再多給一些細節，讓我們對年末前的動能更有信心？謝謝。

Sure. Alex, it's Andy. So as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, we see an attractive pipeline here. We've got tremendous momentum across the business. If you look at where that momentum is, we saw an acceleration in Index, saw an acceleration in PCS. We saw a pickup in Analytics, and we've seen it across non-asset manager client bases. And so those are all things that are sustainable trends, and we see good momentum.

當然。Alex，我是 Andy。如同我在事先準備的發言中提到的，我們看到相當有吸引力的管線。我們在整個業務上都有非常強的動能。如果看動能來自哪裡，我們看到 Index 加速、PCS 加速；Analytics 也有所回升，而且這些動能也出現在非資產管理人客群。因此，這些都是可持續的趨勢，我們看到良好的動能。

Obviously, the third quarter was a very solid quarter. We continue to expand and do more for clients, and we are -- as a result of that, we're having many large deals. These types of deals are reflective of repeatable types of strategic sales that I think we're going to see more and more across the business are going to be a key component of growth into the future. There will be some inherent lumpiness related to the timing of these deals. And as we've alluded to, I wouldn't overly focus on one quarter.

顯然，第三季是一個非常穩健的季度。我們持續擴張，為客戶做得更多；而且——因此——我們正在拿下許多大型交易。這類交易反映出可複製的策略型銷售模式；我認為未來在整個業務中會看到越來越多，並將成為未來成長的關鍵組成。這些交易在時間點上會有一些內在的波動性（lumpiness）。而且如同我們提到的，我不會過度聚焦在單一季度。

But I would say the overall pipeline is quite robust. The momentum is there. Q4, as you said, is a very strong quarter for us for a number of reasons. Notably, there are things like concentration of contract renewals, client budgets at the year-end for our sales organization. And so yes, we're looking at an important fourth quarter here, and we've got the opportunities and the momentum to deliver. And I think we're seeing good momentum not only into the fourth quarter, but heading into next year across those key growth engines for the firm.

但我會說，整體管線相當強勁。動能確實存在。如你所說，第四季對我們而言因多種原因是一個非常強的季度。特別是像合約續約的集中度、以及我們銷售團隊在年末時客戶預算的安排等因素。所以是的，我們正面對一個重要的第四季，而且我們具備機會與動能去交出成果。我認為我們看到的不僅是進入第四季的良好動能，也看到明年在公司那些關鍵成長引擎上的延續動能。

Manav Patnaik, Barclays.

Manav Patnaik，巴克萊（Barclays）。

I guess I just wanted to follow up on that in terms of the big -- you called out a bunch of large contracts this quarter. It sounded like, Andy, you just said you expect more of those to continue. So we shouldn't treat these as timing perhaps? Just trying to get kind of a level check on the growth rate there.

我想我只是想就此追問一下：你們這一季特別點出了好幾筆大型合約。聽起來 Andy 你剛剛說你預期未來還會持續有更多這類合約。所以我們不應該把這些視為只是時間點的因素（timing）嗎？我只是想對那邊的成長率做個水平校準（level check）。

And then I just wanted to clarify your comments around how First Street is going to help the growth on the Sustainability side, please.

另外我也想請你澄清一下你提到 First Street 將如何在永續（Sustainability）這一端幫助成長，謝謝。

Manav. So look, I think that as we expand MSCI into new use cases, new client segments, there is an incredible amount of innovation and new product launches at MSCI. And as we engage with clients, the number of large deals is going to increase. Now each quarter, we're going to have a lot of large deals, and it will make it a great quarter like this one. And in some deals will slip to the next quarter. And it may appear that the quarter wasn't that great. It will be a mistake to interpret it that way.

Manav。你看，我認為隨著我們把 MSCI 擴展到新的使用情境（use cases）與新的客戶細分領域，MSCI 會有大量的創新與新產品發布。而當我們與客戶互動時，大型交易的數量將會增加。現在，每一季我們都會有很多大型交易，這會讓某些季度像這一季一樣表現非常亮眼。而有些交易會延後到下一季。這可能會讓人覺得那一季沒有那麼好。但用那種方式解讀會是個錯誤。

The best way to analyze our performance is on a multi-quarter basis because these large deals are going to create differences quarter-by-quarter. And therefore, when we have a great quarter, everyone is going to get really excited. When the quarter is a little less -- is a little softer because a few deals, large deals slip to the next quarter, it's going to look less exciting and everyone is going to start worrying.

分析我們表現的最佳方式，是以多季度的角度來看，因為這些大型交易會造成季度之間的差異。因此，當我們有一個很棒的季度時，大家會非常興奮。當某一季因為幾筆大型交易延後到下一季而稍微——稍微偏軟時，看起來就沒那麼令人興奮，大家就會開始擔心。

The trend here is very positive. The trend is that we're picking up growth a little bit in asset managers. We're stable in asset managers with slightly higher growth, but importantly, in the non-asset manager segments, of course, asset-based fees within Index and ETF and all that, but in traders and in hedge funds, in GPs, for sure, in asset owners, as you saw in this quarter, et cetera.

但這裡的趨勢非常正面。趨勢是：我們在資產管理人（asset managers）端的成長略有回升。我們在資產管理人端維持穩定、成長略高；但更重要的是，在非資產管理人（non-asset manager）細分領域——當然也包括 Index 與 ETF 等中的資產基礎費用（asset-based fees）——但在交易員（traders）、避險基金（hedge funds）、普通合夥人（GPs）當然也包括、以及資產所有人（asset owners），如你在本季所看到的，等等。

So I think that my best advice to all of you is to evaluate the -- not the financial metrics, the financial metrics get smoothed out by the accounting process. But the operating metrics in recurring new sales and retentions and cancels, you need to evaluate them on a multi-quarter basis. Otherwise, you're going to go crazy that, one -- you're going to feel very good one quarter, and going to feel not as good in the next.

所以我給各位最好的建議是：評估——不是財務指標，因為財務指標會被會計處理流程平滑化。而是要看營運指標：經常性的新銷售、續約留存（retentions）與取消（cancels），你需要用多季度的角度來評估。否則你會被搞瘋：某一季你會覺得非常好，下一季又會覺得沒那麼好。

Alexander Hess, JPMorgan.

Alexander Hess，摩根大通（JPMorgan）。

Just wanted to see if we can get you both to elaborate on the qualitative and the quantitative and something in your prepared remarks in the press release. You noted robust demand for both traditional and newer solutions. Maybe we could have Andy start off with dimensioning how much are newer solutions contributing to the net new number? And then maybe from Alvise or Henry, how we should think about what's resonating in market right now? Yes.

我想看看能否請你們兩位就你們在新聞稿中、以及事先準備的發言裡提到的質性與量化內容再多做一些說明。你們提到對傳統解決方案與較新的解決方案都有強勁需求。也許可以先請 Andy 量化一下：較新的解決方案對淨新增（net new）數字的貢獻有多少？然後也許請 Alvise 或 Henry 談談：目前市場上到底是哪些東西最能引起共鳴？是的。

And then also, if you don't mind me tacking on, any comments you can offer on the largest deal you closed and what was different about that specific transaction? So I know --

另外，如果不介意我再加問一下：你們能否就你們成交的最大一筆交易提供一些評論，以及那筆特定交易有何不同之處？所以我知道——

Alex, so let me give some color on the quantitative side. And as you said, I'll turn it over to Alvise to give some color on types of products where we're getting traction. You can comment on that big win we had, which is very exciting for us. As you know, we have seen not just this quarter, but this year, we've seen a meaningful increase in the contribution from new products to sales. That is something that is a key driver of growth, and we expect that to continue.

Alex，我先就量化面提供一些補充說明。如你所說，我會把話題交給 Alvise，請他就我們在哪些產品類型上取得進展提供一些說明。你也可以評論一下我們拿下的那筆大單，這對我們來說非常令人振奮。如你所知，不只是本季，而是今年以來，我們看到新產品對銷售的貢獻有顯著提升。這是成長的關鍵驅動因素之一，我們預期這個趨勢會持續。

In the third quarter here, that contribution to new sales from new products increased more than 50% compared to a year ago. And so we have seen a significant step-up in new products launched this year, but importantly, the monetization of those new products.

在本次第三季，新產品對新銷售的貢獻相較一年前增加了超過 50%。因此，我們今年不僅看到新產品推出的數量顯著增加，更重要的是，這些新產品的變現（monetization）。

I would also highlight beyond just the monetization of the products themselves, that innovation, that development, the enhancements that we are making are also critical in driving improved retention. They also help to support price increases, and they are key enablers for broadening the relationship with many clients. So this innovation is a key part of our growth algorithm on many fronts, not just the new sales contribution, but it's something that we think is really helping to fuel the repositioning of the company and opening up additional use cases in new client segments, new parts of the market and new solutions for us. So with that, why don't I turn it to Alvise to give some more color.

我也想強調，除了產品本身的變現之外，我們正在進行的創新、開發與強化，同樣對於推動留存率提升至關重要。它們也有助於支撐提價，並且是拓展與許多客戶關係的關鍵促成因素。因此，這項創新在多個面向上都是我們成長演算法的關鍵部分，不僅僅是新銷售的貢獻；我們認為它確實正在協助推動公司重新定位，並在新的客戶族群、市場新領域以及我們的新解決方案中，開啟更多額外的使用情境。那麼，接下來我把時間交給 Alvise，請他補充更多說明。

Thank you, Andy, and thank you, Alex, for the question. So we see a continued sustained demand for new solutions for portfolio construction. The demand from all angles of the market for more customized, more bespoke portfolio solutions continues, and that allows us to continue accelerating the success of our custom index franchise.

謝謝你，Andy，也謝謝你，Alex，提出這個問題。我們看到市場對投資組合建構新解決方案的需求持續且穩健。市場各個面向對更客製化、更量身打造的投資組合解決方案的需求仍在延續，這也讓我們得以持續加速我們客製化指數業務的成功。

We're also helping accelerate our model franchise. So we launched a custom model service. We're also building new factor models at pace. And we're also accelerating the new specialized data sets we are making available to our clients in the market. These are on a range of different aspects of portfolio constructions. There are some very specific new type of signals that we're putting out through our signal library effort on crowding, on specifics of factor models. And there is also new solutions to help people build the objects of the basket, build the solutions. So this is all driving this continued growth of the portfolio ecosystems and is offering us, frankly, a very, very positive environment for the next several quarters to continue this expansion.

我們也在協助加速我們的模型業務。因此我們推出了客製化模型服務。我們也在快速建立新的因子模型。同時，我們也在加速把新的專業資料集提供給市場上的客戶。這些涵蓋投資組合建構的多個不同面向。我們透過訊號資料庫（signal library）的工作，在擁擠度（crowding）以及因子模型細節等方面，推出一些非常具體的新型訊號。此外，也有新的解決方案來協助人們建立籃子（basket）的組成要素、打造解決方案。因此，這一切都在推動投資組合生態系的持續成長，坦白說，也為我們未來幾個季度持續擴張提供了非常、非常正向的環境。

The other area that I would highlight is portfolio solutions. So on the one hand, a significant appetite for new total portfolio solutions, and we have very successfully gone to market in Q3 with a new total portfolio management offering for asset and wealth managers and also a new offering specifically for wealth managers. These, again, are solutions which we see getting more traction in the quarters to come and will continue supporting our growth.

我還想強調的另一個領域是投資組合解決方案。一方面，市場對新的整體投資組合（total portfolio）解決方案有顯著需求；我們在第三季非常成功地推出了一項新的整體投資組合管理方案，面向資產管理與財富管理機構，同時也推出了一項專為財富管理機構設計的新方案。同樣地，這些解決方案我們預期在接下來幾個季度會獲得更多採用，並將持續支撐我們的成長。

We also delivered a substantial innovation in the multi-asset class risk space namely by enabling a substantially lower latency intraday capability that will transform how complex multi-asset class investment organization can bring risk to the front office to inform decision-making.

我們也在多資產類別風險領域交付了一項重大創新，也就是提供顯著更低延遲的盤中能力，這將改變複雜的多資產類別投資機構如何把風險帶到前台（front office），以支援決策。

Finally, I want to highlight what we're doing in the PCS space, the private market solutions, where as it was alluded in the introductory remarks, thanks to the Vantager acquisition, we've brought to market a highly differentiated and valuable fund diligence and document management solution that is getting a lot of traction, and we also see that continuing and massively expanding its appeal to investors.

最後，我想強調我們在 PCS 領域（私募市場解決方案）所做的事情。正如開場致詞中所提到的，得益於收購 Vantager，我們已將一套高度差異化且具價值的基金盡職調查與文件管理解決方案推向市場，並獲得大量採用；我們也預期這股動能將持續，並大幅擴大其對投資人的吸引力。

Scott Wurtzel, Wolfe Research.

Scott Wurtzel，Wolfe Research。

A similar question on the product side, maybe switching to more of a kind of AI-focused topic. Wondering if in your conversations with customers or any of the deals that you're seeing with customers who are adopting AI products, are you seeing any uplift in deal size associated with that? Any color on that would be great.

我有一個類似的產品面問題，但可能切換到更偏 AI 的主題。想請教在你們與客戶的對話中，或你們看到的任何交易裡，對於正在採用 AI 產品的客戶，你們是否看到交易規模因此有所提升？如果能提供一些說明會很有幫助。

Yes. So the solution I alluded to in my earlier answer, especially in the private market space, these are all natively agentic solutions. And it is not that people are buying them more because they are agentic, it is that they couldn't be delivered and built without the support of latest-gen LLM technology because -- simply because the amount of syntactic analysis that has to be done, it's only possible, thanks to the usage of latest-gen LLM technology with the right training in the right context, specifically for the analysis and understanding of private asset object.

是的。我在先前回答中提到的解決方案，特別是在私募市場領域，這些都是原生的代理式（agentic）解決方案。並不是因為它們是代理式所以大家買得更多；而是如果沒有最新一代 LLM 技術的支援，它們根本無法被交付與建置——原因很簡單，所需進行的語法分析量非常龐大，只有在使用最新一代 LLM 技術、並在正確情境下進行適當訓練時才可能做到，尤其是針對私募資產標的（private asset object）的分析與理解。

So additionally, in the portfolio construction space, all the newest data sets we are releasing, again, are only buildable and can be delivered at scale with the right consistency because of a massive use of agentic capabilities, and clients understand that. So they see that this is intel, it's IP with a transformative value that we couldn't have created beforehand.

此外，在投資組合建構領域，我們正在發布的最新資料集，同樣也只有透過大量運用代理式能力，才能以正確的一致性在規模化情況下建置並交付，而客戶也理解這一點。因此他們看到這是情報，是具備變革性價值的智慧財產（IP），是我們過去無法創造出來的。

Look, there is another step which is that we also are agentifying the way the clients can actually use some of these capabilities. So we delivered within our solution, agents that are specialized in actually doing some of this portfolio construction capabilities for clients, we see this as being a game changer. The biggest limit, frankly, will be not our ability to build, but it will be the ability for the clients to accept this solution in their environment, given that we are building the agents.

你看，還有下一步：我們也正在把客戶實際使用這些能力的方式「代理化」（agentifying）。因此我們在解決方案中交付了代理（agents），這些代理專門用來替客戶執行部分投資組合建構能力；我們認為這將是改變遊戲規則的關鍵。坦白說，最大的限制不會是我們的建置能力，而會是客戶在其環境中接受這套解決方案的能力，因為我們正在打造這些代理。

Faiza Alwy, Deutsche Bank.

Faiza Alwy，德意志銀行。

I actually wanted to ask about operating leverage and profitability going forward. I know you've historically talked about reallocation of expenses and maybe AI-related efficiencies that are being reinvested in the business. I'm curious if your thoughts have evolved around, is there a time where we can start to see higher operating leverage, maybe more margin expansion and potentially a decline in expenses?

我其實想問的是未來的營運槓桿與獲利能力。我知道你們過去曾談到費用重新配置，以及可能由 AI 帶來的效率提升會再投資回業務。我想了解你們的想法是否有所演進：是否有一個時間點，我們可以開始看到更高的營運槓桿、也許更多的利潤率擴張，並且可能看到費用下降？

The answer is no margin expansion. MSCI is a company with incredible opportunities in a new world, which is a world of large amounts of data, huge number of models to help people understand portfolios, either investment portfolios, loan portfolios, insurance risk portfolios and of course, the use of technology to do all of that.

答案是：不會有利潤率擴張。MSCI 是一家在新世界中擁有驚人機會的公司——這個世界有大量資料、龐大的模型數量，來幫助人們理解投資組合，不論是投資組合、貸款組合、保險風險組合，當然也包括運用科技來完成這一切。

So in the past, one of the biggest problems of MSCI is that we've had an enormous number of very attractive organic investments that we haven't been able to fund because we didn't want to touch the margin. So now with AI, which I call it a godsend, we have an incredibly positive algorithm, which is we're applying AI to the -- we divided up MSCI into running the existing business and the enhancements of the existing business and what we call growing the business, a lot of the new innovations, the new products and in the running of the existing business and the enhancement of the existing business.

因此在過去，MSCI 最大的問題之一是：我們有大量非常具吸引力的有機投資機會，但因為不想動到利潤率，所以無法為它們提供資金。所以現在有了 AI——我稱之為天賜之物（godsend）——我們有一個極其正向的演算法：我們把 MSCI 分成既有業務的運行、既有業務的強化，以及我們所稱的「成長業務」（growing the business），也就是許多新創新與新產品；而在既有業務的運行與強化上，

We're applying AI significantly to gradually lower the growth rate of EBITDA expenses from mid- to high single digits to the low single digits and eventually to negative growth. And then we want to put all that money into the growing of the business with all these opportunities that I mentioned earlier in order to expand into new use cases, new client segments, of course, new solutions powered by more data, more models and more technology. So we believe that we're going to have probably a triple benefit of AI. The first benefit is the ability to free up capital to invest.

我們正大幅運用 AI，逐步把 EBITDA 費用的成長率從中到高個位數，降到低個位數，最終降到負成長。然後我們希望把所有這些資金投入到「成長業務」中，利用我先前提到的各種機會，擴展到新的使用情境、新的客戶族群，當然也包括由更多資料、更多模型與更多科技所驅動的新解決方案。因此我們相信 AI 可能帶來三重效益。第一個效益是釋放資本以便投資。

The second benefit is that the products that we're creating, as Alvise described, we couldn't do them without agentic processes. And therefore, we can now do that, and we can expand faster and the payoff is going to be larger per product. That's the second benefit.

第二個效益是，我們正在打造的產品，如 Alvise 所描述，如果沒有代理式流程我們做不到。因此現在我們可以做到，並且能更快擴張，而每個產品的回報也會更大。這是第二個效益。

And the third benefit is that we think that eventually, we'll be able to disrupt the SaaS software -- the SaaS industry by which our clients consume content from us, content means data and models and analytics with agentic processes rather than this incredible investment in SaaS software that needs to be made and the like. If you allow me an analogy here, I used to be a media investor in my private equity firm, and in cable, I mean, in media, the transformations went from over-the-air transmission of media to cable transmission of media to streaming media.

第三個效益是，我們認為最終我們將能以代理式流程，顛覆客戶向我們消費內容的 SaaS 軟體——SaaS 產業；這裡的內容指的是資料、模型與分析，而不是需要投入龐大資本建置的 SaaS 軟體等等。如果允許我打個比方：我以前在我的私募股權公司做過媒體投資；在有線電視——我是說，在媒體領域，轉型歷程是從無線電波傳輸到有線傳輸，再到串流媒體。

So the SaaS industry is the equivalent of cable. It makes -- it is an incredible investment to wire every house, every building, everything with copper wires and fiber optic wires, et cetera. So there came a streaming technology that for anybody who has access to an Internet connection, you can have access to all the content in the planet. So we believe that the cable TV type of industry is the equivalent of SaaS and the streaming technology is the agentic technology that could bypass all of that, and we could then get a big benefit as well and increase the number of users of our content all over the world. Instead of having hundreds, we now have maybe tens of thousands of users in our client organizations, we can have hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of users of our content and significantly expand our white space.

因此，SaaS 產業相當於有線電視。把每一戶、每一棟建築、所有東西都用銅線與光纖等佈線，是一項極其驚人的投資。接著出現了串流技術，只要任何人能連上網際網路，就能取得全球所有內容。因此我們相信，有線電視這類型的產業相當於 SaaS，而串流技術則相當於可代理（agentic）技術，能夠繞過上述一切；我們也能因此獲得很大的好處，並在全球提升我們內容的使用者數。過去在客戶組織中可能只有數百名使用者，現在可能有數萬名；未來我們可以有數十萬名，最終達到數百萬名使用者，並大幅擴大我們的未開發空間。

Kelsey Zhu, Autonomous Research.

Kelsey Zhu，Autonomous Research。

Could you talk a little bit more about your investment into agentic-based AI solutions? And I know you've just talked a little about that in the private market space earlier, but what new products and features are you building in the other segments? And how do you see that changing the competitive landscape for you?

能否再多談一些你們對以可代理（agentic）為基礎的 AI 解決方案的投資？我知道你剛才在私募市場領域已稍微談到一些，但在其他業務板塊你們正在打造哪些新產品與功能？你如何看待這將如何改變你們的競爭格局？

Yes. Thank you for the question. So as I alluded to, another area that is being completely revolutionized by agentic capabilities is our model creation factory. So it used to take us several weeks to build and fully calibrate a new model, we can now do it in the space of a couple of hours. At some point, we'll be able to do it in the space of minutes. That transforms what these models can do because we will be literally capable of creating models on demand targeted exactly to the needs of a specific user in a way that it was never possible before. And this done with the same level of quality, integrity and dependability that the MSCI factor model has had for decades.

是的。謝謝你的提問。如我先前提到的，另一個正被可代理能力徹底革新的領域，是我們的模型建立工廠。過去我們需要好幾週才能建立並完整校準一個新模型，現在我們可以在幾個小時內完成。在某個時間點，我們將能在幾分鐘內完成。這會改變這些模型能做的事情，因為我們將真正具備按需建立模型的能力，精準對準特定使用者的需求，這在以前是完全不可能的。而且能以與 MSCI 因子模型數十年來一貫的品質、完整性與可靠性相同的水準來完成。

Another area is the creation of new specialized data sets. So the ability to do fundamental analysis of not even companies, assets, both asset pointing to public companies and private companies through the use of different artificial intelligence technology is completely transformational. And this allows us to create product offerings that are completely different from what we used to do before. So for instance, our geospatial offering is an example of that. We have just launched a few specialized data sets to help understand the AI value chain. And all of this depends on the agentic ability to basically map companies' characteristics, companies' revenues, companies' assets to very specific characteristics that it would be impossible to do just with humans.

另一個領域是建立新的專業資料集。因此，透過不同的人工智慧技術，對不僅是公司、甚至是資產進行基本面分析（涵蓋指向上市公司與私營公司的資產）之能力，具有完全顛覆性的意義。這讓我們能打造與過去完全不同的產品供給。例如，我們的地理空間（geospatial）產品就是一個例子。我們也剛推出了幾個專業資料集，用於協助理解 AI 價值鏈。而這一切都仰賴可代理能力，基本上能把公司的特徵、公司的營收、公司的資產映射到非常具體的特性上；若只靠人力，這是不可能做到的。

Owen Lau, Clear Street.

Owen Lau，Clear Street。

I have a question about your free cash flow guidance. It's being maintained even though you beat the results by quite a bit. I saw that interest expense raised by $6 million. And Andy, you also mentioned higher investments, and we had lots of conversation about these investments already. But I'm just wondering, like are these the main drivers of maintaining the free cash flow guidance or there are some conservatism baking into your guidance?

我有一個關於你們自由現金流指引的問題。即使你們的實際結果大幅優於預期，指引仍維持不變。我看到利息費用上調了 600 萬美元。另外 Andy，你也提到投資增加，我們也已經就這些投資討論很多。但我想了解的是：維持自由現金流指引的主要驅動因素是否就是這些？還是你們的指引中也包含了一些保守假設？

And also, do you expect some kind of incremental revenue or maybe lower expense in 2027 or beyond because of these investments?

另外，因為這些投資，你們是否預期在 2027 年或更久之後會有某種增量營收，或是可能更低的費用？

Sure. Yes. So I would highlight a couple of things. So free cash flow, as you know, can be a little lumpy quarter-to-quarter. So what we saw in the third quarter was heavily driven by one factor in particular, which was interest payments. So we had a significant increase, so $50-plus million of additional interest, cash interest payments in the third quarter related to the financings that we did last year. There can also be lumpiness related to tax payments, even timing of collections, other payment items. And so I wouldn't focus too much on any given quarter.

當然。是的。我會強調幾點。如你所知，自由現金流在季度之間可能會有些波動。我們在第三季看到的情況，特別是由一個因素所驅動，也就是利息支付。因此我們出現了顯著增加：第三季因為去年所做的融資，現金利息支付增加了超過 5,000 萬美元。另外也可能因稅款支付、甚至收款時點、其他付款項目而出現波動。因此我不會過度聚焦在任何單一季度。

The reason why we keep the full year guidance and we're confident about the outlook is the collections have been strong, so business growth to put it front and center. So as we continue to grow the top line, as we continue to expand with clients, that translates through to cash collections, and that is what's powering the overall free cash flow for us, even though we do have, as you alluded to, higher expenses in areas.

我們之所以維持全年指引並對前景有信心，是因為收款表現強勁，把業務成長放在最核心的位置。因此，隨著我們持續推動營收成長、持續在客戶端擴張，這會反映到現金收款上；即便如你所提到的，我們在某些領域確實有較高費用，整體自由現金流仍是由這些收款所驅動。

I would highlight one of those items that I called out that's leading to higher expenses this year, namely the performance stock options and the additional accruals related to those as our financial performance improves. That's a noncash item. So there are some noncash items in those expenses that aren't going to impact cash flows.

我會特別點出我提到的一項今年導致費用較高的因素，也就是績效型股票選擇權，以及隨著我們財務表現改善而增加的相關應計。那是一個非現金項目。因此，這些費用中有一些非現金項目，不會影響現金流。

Punchline is, as I said, there will be some lumpiness quarter-to-quarter. The timing of some of those items can push swings, but we continue to be confident about the momentum of the business and the top line growth, and that will, over time, translate through to better cash flows for the business. As you know, that's a key part of our financial algorithm. We are always focused on driving very compelling EPS growth and free cash flow growth and particularly free cash flow per share growth over time.

重點是，如我所說，季度之間會有一些波動。其中一些項目的時點可能造成起伏，但我們仍對業務動能與營收成長有信心，而這將隨時間推進轉化為更好的現金流。如你所知，這是我們財務演算法的關鍵部分。我們始終專注於推動非常具吸引力的 EPS 成長與自由現金流成長，尤其是長期的每股自由現金流成長。

George Tong, Goldman Sachs.

George Tong，高盛。

You mentioned double-digit growth across your non-asset manager segments. Can you put a finer point on where within the double-digit range that growth is running and whether that year-over-year growth accelerated from the prior quarter?

你提到在非資產管理人（non-asset manager）業務板塊都呈現雙位數成長。你能否更精準地說明這個雙位數區間內大概落在哪裡？以及這個年增率是否相較上一季有所加速？

Yes. And listen, I don't want to get too specific because the amounts can move around a little bit quarter-to-quarter here. But if you look on an organic basis across the organization, we saw solid double-digit growth with asset owners, as we alluded to, so north of 12%. Hedge funds, we continue to see as our highest growth client segment. So I think it was roughly 18% growth with hedge funds, see roughly 10% growth in areas like broker-dealers and banks and elevated growth in other pockets as well. And so that collection of opportunities is being fueled by innovations that we've been making.

是的。你也知道，我不想講得太精確，因為這些數字在季度之間可能會有些變動。但如果你看整個組織的有機成長，我們在資產所有人（asset owners）端看到穩健的雙位數成長，如我們先前提到的，超過 12%。對沖基金仍是我們成長最快的客戶族群。因此我認為對沖基金大約成長 18%；在券商與銀行等領域大約成長 10%，其他一些區塊也有較高成長。而這一系列機會正是由我們所做的創新所驅動。

As we've alluded to before, we've continued to develop new products and solutions that are fit for purpose for many of these client segments. We're also enhancing our go-to-market efforts around many of these client segments. Those are translating through to elevated growth, and that's going to be a key part of our financial algorithm driving that overall double-digit top line growth is continuing to fuel the opportunities across these client segments.

如我們先前提到的，我們持續開發許多針對這些客戶族群「適用且到位」（fit for purpose）的新產品與解決方案。我們也在多個客戶族群上強化我們的市場推進（go-to-market）工作。這些都轉化為較高的成長，而在我們的財務演算法中，推動整體雙位數營收成長的關鍵部分，就是持續為這些客戶族群帶來機會。

Curtis Nagle, Bank of America.

Curtis Nagle，美國銀行。

Great. Maybe a two-parter. Just going back to how to think about sort of the expense structure. So appreciating you're not making any changes to the, I guess, the net savings, right, because you're going to be reinvesting and it sounds like an accelerating rate.

很好。我可能有兩個問題。先回到如何看待費用結構。我理解你們不會對淨節省（net savings）做任何調整，對吧，因為你們會把節省再投資，而且聽起來再投資的速度還在加快。

But in terms of the timeline, Henry, to your point, getting to a rate closer to low singles, right, and maybe even negative on a gross basis. Is that something we should be contemplating for next year? Or is that perhaps a longer timeline? Just trying to think through, again, how to think through the reinvestment cadence and when that starts to maybe even accelerate further.

但就時間表而言，Henry，呼應你的說法，讓費用成長率更接近低個位數（low singles），甚至在毛額（gross）基礎上可能轉為負成長。這是我們應該在明年就納入考量的情境嗎？還是可能需要更長的時間？我只是想再釐清一次：應該如何看待再投資的節奏，以及何時可能開始、甚至進一步加速。

Yes. And just to be specific on Henry's comment, I think you got this, but to be totally clear, the low single digit and potentially negative in the future referred to our run-the-business expenses. So these are the expenditures in the business that are supporting the existing franchise and existing products as they are today that's an area where AI is being transformative for us. So in our production environments, within our data operations, our technology organization, these are areas where AI is dramatically enhancing productivity and efficiency, and that is what's enabling us to take down the rate of growth on the run-the-business expenses.

是的。而且就 Henry 的評論再具體說明一下，我想你已經理解了，但為了完全清楚，所謂的低個位數、以及未來可能轉為負值，指的是我們的「維持營運（run-the-business）」費用。也就是在業務中用來支撐既有特許經營（franchise）與既有產品、維持其現狀運作的支出；這正是 AI 對我們帶來變革性影響的領域。因此在我們的生產環境、資料營運以及技術組織中，AI 正在大幅提升生產力與效率，而這也使我們能夠降低維持營運費用的成長率。

As Henry alluded to, we intend to reinvest those savings. So those productivity enhancements are going into fueling these very attractive organic opportunities that we have in front of us. And so we do intend to reinvest. And so the overall expense trajectory and the financial algorithm is not changing per se. It's just AI is enabling us to invest more. And that is, if you will, I guess, I could say supercharging that algorithm. So it allows us to invest more, which is going to fuel more top line growth, as Henry said, with the same inherent operating leverage or inherent margin dynamics, and that's going to fuel over time higher profitability growth for us. And so it's kind of supercharging what we've done in the past.

如 Henry 所提到的，我們打算把這些節省下來的成本再投資。因此，這些生產力提升將用來推動我們眼前非常具吸引力的有機成長機會。所以我們確實打算再投資。因此，整體費用走勢與財務演算法本身並沒有改變。只是 AI 讓我們能夠投入更多。換句話說，我想可以稱之為讓這套演算法「加速增壓（supercharging）」。因此它讓我們能投資更多，進而帶動更多營收成長（top line growth），如 Henry 所說，同時維持相同的內建營運槓桿或內建的利潤率動態，並在時間推移下帶動我們更高的獲利成長。所以這有點像是把我們過去做的事情加速增壓。

As we head into next year, there are some items that are positioning us well. So things like the severance, which is running higher than we anticipated at the beginning of the year. A lot of the transformations that we've talked about are happening quickly and will continue to happen. Those are things that will help position our expense base for next year. There are also a number of broader initiatives that are positioning us well for next year.

展望明年，有一些事項正在讓我們處於有利位置。例如資遣費（severance），其金額高於我們年初的預期。我們談到的許多轉型正在快速發生，且將持續推進。這些因素將有助於我們為明年的費用基礎做好布局。此外，還有多項更廣泛的計畫也正在讓我們為明年做好準備。

Now we do intend to, as I said, reinvest a lot of those savings and productivity enhancements, but we've got the levers in our business to make sure in all environments, all dynamics, we've got the ability to flex up and down and continue to drive not only those investments, but also fuel very attractive profitability growth going into next year. And so I don't want to comment specifically on expenses or any targets for next year other than to say we're very confident in our position and the momentum we have in the business, and we think we are setting up well nicely for next year.

如我所說，我們確實打算把其中許多節省與生產力提升再投資，但我們在業務中也有可運用的槓桿，確保在各種環境、各種動態下，我們都有能力向上或向下調整，並持續推動不僅是這些投資，也能在進入明年時帶動非常具吸引力的獲利成長。因此，除了表示我們對自身的定位與業務動能非常有信心、並認為我們正在為明年建立良好基礎之外，我不想就明年的費用或任何目標做具體評論。

David Motemaden, Evercore ISI.

David Motemaden，Evercore ISI。

I just had a question on the MSCI connectors and what you guys are seeing so far as clients are building agentic workflows with embedded MSCI data. I'm just wondering if you have any insight into MSCI data consumption by agents and how that compares to human users?

我想問一下 MSCI 連接器（connectors），以及目前你們看到客戶在建立內嵌 MSCI 資料的代理式（agentic）工作流程時的情況。我想了解你們是否對代理（agents）對 MSCI 資料的消耗量有任何洞見，以及這與人類使用者相比如何？

And then maybe how we should think about that playing out as agentic use cases continue to gain traction here?

另外，隨著代理式使用情境持續在這裡獲得更多採用，我們應該如何看待其後續發展？

Thank you for the question, David. Look, it's early stages. So we have built connectors for all the main LLM providers. And we've also agentified the experience through our own applications. And for the time being, the evidence is the clients prefer to use our content through our own directly trained and curated capabilities.

謝謝你的問題，David。坦白說，這還在早期階段。因此我們已為所有主要的 LLM 供應商建立了連接器。我們也透過自家應用程式將體驗代理化（agentified）。而就目前的證據來看，客戶更偏好透過我們自家直接訓練並策展（curated）的能力來使用我們的內容。

And look, there's two reasons for that. Reason number one is that the convergence rate is actually higher, not massively higher, but it's a few points higher. And so you get the better experience going directly via the MSCI application. And the other one is that the client space only has, by and large, limited capabilities at this point. Look, most of our clients only have access to Microsoft Copilot, right? And so this will naturally make for a relatively slow rate of adoption via the mainstream connectors and a faster rate of adoption for the directly controlled connectors because you just connect into MSCI as you've always done historically. That said, that will change.

而且，主要有兩個原因。第一個原因是收斂率（convergence rate）其實更高——不是高很多，但高出幾個百分點。因此，直接透過 MSCI 應用程式會得到更好的體驗。第二個原因是客戶端整體而言目前能力仍有限。你看，我們大多數客戶目前只能使用 Microsoft Copilot，對吧？因此，透過主流連接器的採用速度自然會相對較慢；而直接受控的連接器採用速度會更快，因為你只是像過去一樣連到 MSCI。不過，這種情況會改變。

And so, look, we're doing three things. On the one hand, we are accelerating our connectivity to all the main platforms, whether they are large LLM companies or large cloud data provider companies like Snowflake and Databricks. We are also, as I explained, continuing to invest in our direct agentified access capabilities. And then we're also building own agent capabilities to enable the content on the client side, as Henry alluded to, to transform the experience. Look, we don't know which one of these three will prevail, but we are preparing to support all three. And then gradually, the market will show us what works best. As I said, it's very early stages right now for the reason I said, the MSCI conduits are the most prevalent.

所以，我們正在做三件事。一方面，我們正在加速與所有主要平台的連接，不論是大型 LLM 公司，或是像 Snowflake、Databricks 這類大型雲端資料供應商公司。同時，如我所說，我們也持續投資於我們直接的代理化存取能力。此外，我們也在建立自有的代理能力，以便在客戶端啟用內容，正如 Henry 所提到的，來改變使用體驗。我們不確定這三者之中哪一種會成為主流，但我們正準備支援全部三種。接著市場會逐步告訴我們哪一種最有效。如我所說，基於我提到的原因，目前仍處於非常早期的階段，而 MSCI 的導管（conduits）仍是最普遍的。

Craig Huber, Huber Research Partners.

Craig Huber，Huber Research Partners。

I want to talk about Index recurring subscription run rate growth. It's obviously accelerated here in recent quarters, I guess, 10.7% in the first quarter this year, 11.5% second quarter, now it's 12% here in the third quarter, obviously, up from 8.5% to 9.5% the prior eight quarters. Can you talk about what's going on there in terms of how much AI is potentially helping those revenue growth numbers there? It's quite impressive acceleration there.

我想談談指數（Index）經常性訂閱年化收入（run rate）成長。很明顯近幾季有所加速；我想今年第一季是 10.7%，第二季 11.5%，現在第三季是 12%，而在此前八個季度大概是從 8.5% 到 9.5%。你能談談這背後發生了什麼嗎？AI 在多大程度上可能正在幫助這些營收成長數字？這樣的加速相當令人印象深刻。

Yes, Craig. So it has been encouraging. We've got good momentum there. As you said, we continue to see an acceleration. I'd say the themes at this point are consistent with what we've talked about recently. So we have a huge focus on building the trading and liquidity ecosystem around our indexes. And correspondingly, we have very strong traction with hedge funds and traders.

是的，Craig。這確實令人鼓舞。我們在那裡有不錯的動能。如你所說，我們持續看到加速。我會說，目前的主題與我們最近談到的一致。我們非常專注於圍繞我們的指數建立交易與流動性生態系。相應地，我們在避險基金與交易員方面有非常強勁的進展。

Within Index, we saw a 32% growth with hedge funds on the subscription run rate side. We saw a 15% growth with banks and brokers. A lot of that success was on the heels of many of the new modules that we have released. And as Alvise indicated earlier, our ability to develop these modules, these content sets is enabled by AI. Our ability to get to market faster is enabled by AI. So AI is definitely helping on the pace of innovation, the productivity front, and that is helping to enable the sales.

在指數業務中，我們在避險基金的訂閱年化收入（subscription run rate）方面看到 32% 的成長。我們在銀行與券商方面看到 15% 的成長。這些成功很大一部分來自我們發布的許多新模組。而且如 Alvise 先前所指出，我們開發這些模組、這些內容集（content sets）的能力是由 AI 所驅動；我們更快推向市場的能力也是由 AI 所驅動。因此，AI 確實在創新速度與生產力方面提供助力，而這也有助於促成銷售。

I would say more generally across Index, we are seeing good momentum, including areas like asset owners and wealth managers, where we're seeing 10% plus growth. And so we're seeing momentum across the board. Asset managers have been reasonably steady for us, but they are licensing more content from us. We're helping us -- helping them by licensing solutions that help them in, as you know, active ETFs, help them move to be more systematic in their investment processes. And so we've seen pretty steady momentum with asset managers. And a lot of that is fueled by innovation, better services, access to more content that is fueled by underlying AI.

更廣泛地說，在整個指數業務中，我們看到良好動能，包括資產所有人與財富管理機構等領域，我們看到超過 10% 的成長。因此我們在各方面都看到動能。資產管理公司對我們而言一直相對穩健，但他們正向我們授權更多內容。我們透過授權解決方案來協助他們——如你所知——在主動式 ETF 等方面，並協助他們在投資流程上變得更系統化。因此，我們在資產管理公司方面看到相當穩健的動能。而其中很大一部分是由創新、更好的服務、以及更多內容的取得所推動，而這些都由底層的 AI 所驅動。

I would say looking forward here, there are dynamics that can even enhance that further. So I know we've talked about this a little in the past, but clients -- many clients are starting to want to have access to our content to be able to train models to use more content involved in an agentic investment process. This is very early days. And so the impact has been small to us at this point, but those are things that can create additional demand on top of all the great things we're doing today.

我會說，展望未來，還有一些動態因素甚至能進一步強化這一點。所以我知道我們過去稍微談過，但客戶——許多客戶開始希望能夠存取我們的內容，用來訓練模型，以便在更具代理式（agentic）的投資流程中使用更多內容。這還在非常早期的階段。因此目前對我們的影響還很小，但這些因素可能會在我們今天所做的所有好事情之上，創造額外的需求。

The last thing I would highlight, and we've talked about this a lot in the past, custom indexes, which are a reflection of that move towards systematic investing, and we are best positioned to be able to help clients make that transition. We saw 26%-plus growth in custom index run rate -- subscription run rate. And so we continue to have very strong momentum on that front. Our capabilities there are enabled by AI, and we continue to broaden our ability to do more custom indexes with a faster turnaround, and that's something that's enhanced by AI. So listen, we're very encouraged overall by the momentum in Index subscription. It is fueled by the innovations we've been making and AI is an accelerant on that. So all good things for us on that front.

最後我想強調的一點，而且我們過去也談了很多，就是客製化指數（custom indexes），這反映了向系統化投資轉移的趨勢，而我們最有能力協助客戶完成這個轉型。我們看到客製化指數的 run rate——訂閱 run rate——成長超過 26%。因此我們在這方面持續保持非常強勁的動能。我們在這裡的能力由 AI 所驅動，我們也持續擴大能力，以更快的交付週期做出更多客製化指數，而這也因 AI 而得到強化。所以總之，我們整體對指數訂閱的動能感到非常振奮。這是由我們持續推動的創新所帶動，而 AI 是其中的加速器。所以在這方面對我們而言都是好事。

Let me add one other comment. When we sort of sit back and look at the totality of our Index subscription business, in addition to the significant growth that we see in the focus on indices on the assets. A lot of our business on Index has been focused on monetizing the amount of assets that are in the ecosystem of our index, $23 trillion, of which $8 trillion is -- more than $8 trillion is passively managed.

我再補充一點。當我們退一步看整體的指數訂閱業務時，除了我們看到在以指數為核心的資產上有顯著成長之外，我們很多指數業務一直聚焦在將我們指數生態系中的資產規模變現，總計 23 兆美元，其中 8 兆美元——超過 8 兆美元——是被動管理。

In addition to that, we have found huge white space in developing products on the trading of the assets, the trading of the assets, not just the assets, but the trading of the assets. So what data sets are going to help traders, market makers, broker-dealers, exchanges, help facilitate the flow of trading of that -- of those assets. And that's why you see this significant growth in Index in traders and hedge funds, for example. And we're not even yet penetrating the market makers. That's -- we're working on that, but that's not yet even on the numbers. So we believe that this white space is going to create another layer of growth in our Index subscriptions.

除此之外，我們也發現，在資產的交易（trading）相關產品開發上有很大的空白市場（white space），是資產的交易、資產的交易——不只是資產本身，而是資產的交易。所以有哪些資料集能幫助交易員、造市商、券商自營商（broker-dealers）、交易所，協助促進那些——那些資產的交易流動。這也是為什麼你會看到指數在交易員與避險基金等客群中出現顯著成長。而我們甚至還沒有真正滲透到造市商市場。那——我們正在推進，但目前甚至還沒有反映在數字裡。因此我們相信，這個空白市場將為我們的指數訂閱帶來另一層成長。

Ashish Sabadra, RBC Capital Markets.

Ashish Sabadra，RBC Capital Markets。

I just wanted to circle back to an earlier question from Faiza on operating leverage. Henry, if I understood your comment that no margin expansion, did I hear that right? And is that just for -- I was just wondering if you could provide some timeline around that no margin expansion.

我想回到先前 Faiza 關於營運槓桿（operating leverage）的問題。Henry，如果我理解你的意思是沒有利潤率擴張（no margin expansion），我聽得沒錯吧？而這只是針對——我想請你提供一下「沒有利潤率擴張」大概會持續到什麼時間點的時間軸。

And maybe just a follow-up there. Obviously, you've had a great track record of these investments. How should we think about the ROIC on these investments, but also how quickly do these investments translate into revenue growth?

另外也許再追問一下。顯然你們在這些投資上有很好的歷史紀錄。我們應該如何看待這些投資的 ROIC（投入資本報酬率），以及這些投資多快會轉化為營收成長？

That's a great question, Ashish. Look, as one of the largest shareholders in the company, I would love to see high valuations today in the next couple of years. But I'd rather see a company double or triple the size in 10 years compared to what it would otherwise be if we let the margin rise. So we, for sure, have a huge inherent pressure, if you want to call it, in the operating leverage increasing. And it's not easy when you see that and having to mobilize to invest the additional sort of revenues -- additional cash flows coming from the operating leverage.

這是個很好的問題，Ashish。你看，作為公司最大的股東之一，我當然希望在今天以及未來幾年看到高估值。但我更希望看到公司在 10 年後的規模是原本在放任利潤率上升情況下的兩倍或三倍。所以我們確實——如果你要這麼稱呼——有很強的內在壓力，讓營運槓桿提高。而當你看到這一點時，要動員起來把營運槓桿帶來的額外收入——額外現金流——再投入出去，並不容易。

When we sit down every year to analyze all the investments that we have, we have to stop. We have to draw the line on organic investments in places that have sometimes triple-digit returns, high double digits -- high double-digit IRRs with relatively short payoff because we don't have the organic capital to do that, meaning we do have the capital, it's just that you got to expense it first before you get generate the revenues, and we do not want to lower the margin. That's for sure.

我們每年坐下來分析所有投資時，都必須停下來。我們必須在某些有時能帶來三位數報酬、高雙位數——高雙位數 IRR（內部報酬率）且回收期相對較短的領域，對有機投資（organic investments）畫出界線，因為我們沒有足夠的有機資本去做這些；我的意思是我們確實有資本，只是你必須先把它費用化，之後才能產生收入，而我們不想降低利潤率。這是肯定的。

But what we can do is not let it increase. There will probably be a marginal increase in the margin because every time we budget something, we build a cushion and the cushion typically doesn't get eaten. And therefore, there is 20, 30, 50 basis points of increases. But that is just because of the nature of our budgeting process and our conservatism, not because we're targeting an increase in the margin. So the end result is our strategy is that we're going to like this company a lot better if it's 2, 3 times bigger than it would otherwise be if we let the margin rise because of the opportunities we have. So that's the process of doing all of this.

但我們能做的是不讓它上升。利潤率可能會有些微上升，因為每次我們做預算時都會留緩衝，而這個緩衝通常不會被用完。因此會有 20、30、50 個基點的上升。但那只是因為我們預算流程的特性與我們的保守作風，而不是因為我們把利潤率提升作為目標。所以最終結果是，我們的策略是：如果公司規模是原本在放任利潤率上升情況下的 2 倍、3 倍，基於我們擁有的機會，我們會更喜歡這家公司。這就是我們做這一切的流程。

Now as I mentioned to you, we have a huge installed base of customers. We're gradually moving into new customers and new client segments. Everything we built is on top of an already existing infrastructure. So the larger the infrastructure like an Index, the higher the payoff relative to a lower infrastructure. So the profitability of these organic investments are huge because as the sort of sum cost of the infrastructure is built, the incremental money required or capital for a particular amount of payoff the incremental capital goes down for the same payoff. So it's going to increase the operating leverage even more than before.

另外如我先前提到的，我們有龐大的既有客戶基礎（installed base）。我們正逐步拓展到新客戶與新的客戶細分市場。我們所打造的一切都是建立在既有基礎設施之上。因此，像指數這樣的基礎設施越大，相較於較小的基礎設施，其回報就越高。所以這些有機投資的獲利性非常高，因為當基礎設施的固定成本（sum cost）已經建立後，為了取得同樣的回報所需的增量資金或資本就會下降。因此它會讓營運槓桿比以前提升得更多。

Alex Kramm, UBS.

Alex Kramm，UBS。

Just a quick follow-up from my part. On the asset manager customer base, first of all, Andy, I don't think you gave a specific number about the run rate growth. You usually do that, so it would be great to have that. But then more importantly, it sounds like a lot of the momentum, and this is a good thing, is coming from some of the new products and the newer customer bases. I think in the past, you may have talked about some of these newer products also applying to asset managers.

我這邊簡單追問一下。關於資產管理公司（asset manager）客戶基礎，首先，Andy，我覺得你沒有給出 run rate 成長的具體數字。你通常會提供，所以如果能給出會很有幫助。但更重要的是，聽起來很多動能——這是好事——來自一些新產品以及較新的客戶基礎。我想過去你可能也談過，這些較新的產品也適用於資產管理公司。

So I'm just wondering, are sales cycles longer there? Are you still confident that some of these newer products can, at some point, also click into gear? And do you have to change anything to maybe do a better job on the sales front with that customer base?

所以我想問的是，那邊的銷售週期是否更長？你們是否仍然有信心，這些較新的產品在某個時間點也能開始發力？以及你們是否需要做任何改變，才能在面向這個客戶群的銷售端做得更好？

Sure. So yes, just for reference, Asset Manager organic subscription run rate growth was around 6%. I mentioned within Index, it was around 8%. As I alluded to, that's been reasonably steady for us. Retention is pretty steady as well, maybe slightly up -- very slightly up from a year ago. Listen, there has been some benefit from several years of equity markets rising. We see reasonably healthy dynamics in many areas with asset managers. And you can tell from the op metrics and solid retention rate.

當然。作為參考，資產管理客戶的有機訂閱 run rate 成長約為 6%。我提到在指數業務內約為 8%。如我所暗示的，這對我們而言一直相當穩定。留存率也相當穩定，可能略有上升——相較一年前非常小幅上升。總之，股市連續多年上漲確實帶來了一些助益。我們在資產管理客戶的許多領域看到相當健康的動態。從營運指標以及穩健的留存率就能看得出來。

There are still those secular pressures on asset managers, and those are likely to continue. But as you alluded to, we are in a position to help them. And so we are innovating. We're enhancing our servicing model. We're helping them transition to those areas where they see asset growth and fee stability. And so we are in a good position to help them overall. And so we think asset managers are going to be an important part of our client base. They're an important part of the investment ecosystem, but they're going to be more of a steady grower, and we're expecting outsized growth from other areas.

資產管理公司仍然面臨那些世俗性的壓力，而這些壓力很可能會持續。但如同你所提到的，我們有能力協助他們。因此我們正在創新。我們正在強化我們的服務模式。我們正在協助他們轉型到那些他們看到資產成長與費用穩定性的領域。因此整體而言，我們處於有利位置來協助他們。因此我們認為資產管理公司將會是我們客戶基礎中的重要部分。他們是投資生態系的重要一環，但他們將更像是穩健成長者，而我們預期其他領域將帶來更為突出的成長。

And if you look at the environment and the backdrop for other client segments, we see it being pretty constructive in areas like hedge funds, banks, traders, asset owners, wealth managers. It's a pretty constructive backdrop with them. And obviously, Index managers have been doing exceptionally well, and we've been doing well with them. So overall, it's a pretty good environment. We've seen steady progress with asset managers, and we think we're in a good position to help them continue to evolve and adapt to changes in the investment process and the investment industry.

如果你看看其他客戶族群的環境與背景，我們認為在避險基金、銀行、交易商、資產所有者、財富管理機構等領域，情勢相當具有建設性。對他們而言，這是相當具有建設性的背景。而且很明顯地，指數管理人表現非常出色，我們與他們的合作也進展良好。因此整體而言，這是一個相當不錯的環境。我們看到資產管理公司方面持續穩步進展，並且我們認為我們處於有利位置，能協助他們持續演進並適應投資流程與投資產業的變化。

Jason Haas, Wells Fargo.

Jason Haas，富國銀行。

This is Keegan Antico on for Jason. I'm curious what you're seeing from your hedge fund end market and particularly quant funds that have been consuming more of your data and new product launches. Do you think that there's a potentially cyclical component to this and some of this growth could moderate in fiscal year '27? Or are you seeing these funds remain highly profitable with continued inflows that could potentially lead to more funds emerging that you can sell into?

我是代替 Jason 的 Keegan Antico。我很好奇你們在避險基金終端市場，特別是量化基金方面看到了什麼情況；這些基金一直在消耗更多你們的數據以及新產品發佈。你認為這裡面可能存在週期性因素，導致其中部分成長在 2027 財年放緩嗎？或者你看到這些基金仍維持高度獲利並持續有資金流入，進而可能促使更多基金出現，讓你們可以向其銷售？

Thank you. Very important question. We see this as being a structural trend in the market, especially in the equity market, but we believe that the fixed income market at some point will also follow the same path. And the path is the following. The unit of conversation in the market has gone from being the single stock to being the portfolio. The portfolio in all possible ways, possible logic, possible definitions. This is something which intrinsically requires a heightened ability to make markets in complex objects at scale, at speed.

謝謝。非常重要的問題。我們認為這是市場中的結構性趨勢，尤其是在股票市場；但我們相信固定收益市場在某個時點也會走上同樣的路徑。而這條路徑如下。市場對話的基本單位已從單一股票轉變為投資組合。投資組合以所有可能的方式、可能的邏輯、可能的定義存在。這本質上需要在規模化、速度上，具備更強的能力去為複雜標的做市。

And this is why in the face of capital limitations from the traditional players, i.e., the broker-dealers and the massive, massive increase of the demand from this portfolio ecosystem is making a very big opportunity get even bigger for the most sophisticated market makers and the hedge funds that effectively play the role of market makers to create an investment function. Because this primacy is supported by very significant investment in the technology capabilities and superior access to the market, I think this is a trend that is there to stay.

這也是為什麼在傳統參與者（也就是券商自營商）受資本限制的情況下，加上這個投資組合生態系需求的大幅、巨幅增加，使得對最成熟的做市商以及實質上扮演做市商角色、以此建立投資功能的避險基金而言，一個很大的機會變得更大。由於這種主導地位是由對科技能力的重大投資以及更優越的市場接入所支撐，我認為這是一個會長期存在的趨勢。

Now can there be short-term reversal? Yes, of course, it can be, right? Market never goes in just one way all the time, but this is a structural transformation. And because, let's say, the unit of conversation is the portfolio, and we are the portfolio guys, we're going to be a massive beneficiary of this continued trend.

那麼短期內會不會出現逆轉？是的，當然可能，對吧？市場不會永遠只朝一個方向走，但這是一場結構性轉型。而且因為比方說，對話的基本單位是投資組合，而我們就是做投資組合的，因此我們將會是這一持續趨勢的巨大受益者。

Alexander Hess, JPMorgan.

Alexander Hess，摩根大通。

Maybe just a quick follow-up on two initiatives that you guys are -- that were pretty prominent for you and the story maybe a year ago. I would like to hear a bit more about the latest on active ETFs. And then has anything changed with respect to the Moody's private credit ratings partnership? I know they had an announcement out there with a third firm. So I would be interested to know on latest updates on both those fronts.

我想就兩項你們正在推動、而且大概在一年前對你們與整個故事線都相當突出的計畫做個簡短追問。我想多聽一些主動式 ETF 的最新進展。然後，Moody's 私募信貸評級合作夥伴關係方面有沒有任何變化？我知道他們曾對外宣布與第三家公司合作。所以我想了解這兩個面向的最新更新。

Yes. So on the active ETF front, as Andy alluded, we've seen significant growth because essentially, the vast majority of asset management firms or traditionally active asset management firms are converting many of the products at an accelerated pace into ETFs. The process of doing so entails a couple of ingredients. One, most of the time, the conversion takes the products to be closer to being systematically built products, which, of course, creates a lot of opportunities for our tools and capabilities to help the managers do the transition.

好的。關於主動式 ETF 方面，如同 Andy 提到的，我們看到顯著成長，因為基本上絕大多數資產管理公司、或傳統上以主動管理為主的資產管理公司，正以加速的步伐把許多產品轉換成 ETF。這個轉換過程包含幾個要素。第一，多數時候，這種轉換會使產品更接近系統化建構的產品，這當然為我們的工具與能力創造了大量機會，來協助管理人完成轉型。

So Alex asked Andy earlier if some of the tools we built for the broker-dealer trading and hedge fund and market making communities at some point will be usable for asset managers. The answer is absolutely yes because the growth of this active ETF market will entail these objects being managed more systematically at greater scale with greater level of customization. And the platforms we've built to help traders, hedge funds, broker-dealers market makers to do that will absolutely be fungible for asset managers. And so we see that continuing and being a trend which we also facilitate. Same for a lot of the capabilities we're building in portfolio creation, basket creation and the specialized data set that can be used to create specific flavors for these new active ETF objects. So as I said, I see the trend continuing and I see the trend being very positive for us.

Alex 先前問 Andy，我們為券商交易、避險基金與做市社群打造的一些工具，未來是否也能供資產管理公司使用。答案絕對是肯定的，因為主動式 ETF 市場的成長將意味著這些標的會以更系統化的方式、在更大規模下、以更高程度的客製化來管理。而我們打造的平台，用來協助交易員、避險基金、券商自營商做市商做到這些，對資產管理公司而言也絕對可以通用。因此我們看到這會持續下去，並且是一個我們也在促成的趨勢。我們在投資組合建構、籃子建構，以及可用於為這些新的主動式 ETF 標的打造特定風格的專門資料集等方面所建立的許多能力，也是同樣道理。所以如我所說，我看到這個趨勢會延續，而且我認為這個趨勢對我們非常正面。

And I'm showing there are no further questions in the Q&A queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Henry Fernandez for any closing remarks.

我這邊顯示目前問答隊列中沒有其他問題。我現在把電話交回給 Henry Fernandez 先生作結語。

Thank you, operator. Before we sign off, I would like to share that this is the final earnings call in which Jeremy Ulan will be serving as MSCI's Head of Investor Relations. At the end of this month, Jeremy will move to a new and exciting role at MSCI as the Lead Finance Director for Client Segments and Solutions. And as we expand into a variety of new client segments, we needed better financial management for that, and Jeremy will provide that leadership in addition to his current role as Treasurer of the firm. Craig Carter, currently our Head of Corporate Development, will take over as Head of IR. I want to thank Jeremy for all his incredible contributions to the IR team and welcome Craig to his new position.

謝謝，接線員。在我們結束之前，我想分享一件事：這是 Jeremy Ulan 擔任 MSCI 投資人關係主管的最後一場法說會。在本月底，Jeremy 將在 MSCI 轉任一個令人振奮的新職務：客戶族群與解決方案的首席財務總監。隨著我們擴展到各式各樣新的客戶族群，我們需要更好的財務管理；Jeremy 除了目前擔任公司財務長（Treasurer）的角色外，也將提供這方面的領導。目前擔任企業發展主管的 Craig Carter 將接任投資人關係主管。我想感謝 Jeremy 對投資人關係團隊的所有卓越貢獻，也歡迎 Craig 擔任新職。

Looking ahead, MSCI continues to expand our footprint with client segments, traditional client segments and newer client segments across the investment ecosystem as we accelerate our product innovation using AI and other advanced modeling and technologies. We have a great franchise for the age of AI. AI is the most useful in places where you have large amounts of data, big number of modeling and the use of a lot of technology, and that's what MSCI is. We remain intensely focused on delivering long-term compound growth and long-term value creation for our shareholders.

展望未來，MSCI 持續在投資生態系中擴大我們在客戶族群上的版圖，涵蓋傳統客戶族群與較新的客戶族群；同時我們也運用 AI 與其他先進建模與技術，加速產品創新。我們在 AI 時代擁有很強的特許經營優勢。AI 在擁有大量資料、龐大建模數量以及大量技術運用的場景中最有用，而這正是 MSCI 的特質。我們仍然高度專注於為股東帶來長期的複利成長與長期價值創造。

Thank you for listening, and we'll keep you posted throughout the quarter.

感謝各位收聽，我們將在本季期間持續向各位更新。

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

各位女士、先生，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與，您現在可以掛線。