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MSCI Barra Releases Its Preliminary Assessments from the Consultation on
Proposed Market Reclassifications
Geneva - December 16, 2008 - MSCI Barra (NYSE: MXB), a leading provider of investment decision support tools
worldwide, including indices and portfolio risk and performance analytics, announced today its preliminary
assessments and some decisions related to the recent consultation discussions with the investment community on
several market reclassification proposals.
As a reminder, earlier this year MSCI Barra began a consultation on proposals to:• Reclassify the MSCI Israel and Korea Indices as MSCI Developed Markets Indices,• Reclassify the MSCI Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates Indices as MSCI Emerging Markets Indices.
At that time, MSCI Barra also announced that it would update the investment community with its preliminary
assessments on the consultation proposals in December 2008 with conclusions from the consultations to be madepublic no later than June 2009. In addition to these reclassification proposals, MSCI Barra also announced at thattime that it would monitor the evolution of market accessibility in Argentina and Colombia and consider reclassifyingthem as Frontier Markets, following a consultation, unless significant improvements in capital flow restrictions wereobserved by December 2008.
MSCI Barra’s market classification framework evaluates markets on economic development, size and liquidity, andmarket accessibility criteria. Based on that framework and following consultations with international institutional
investors and dialogue with relevant authorities over the last few months, MSCI Barra is now providing the following
preliminary assessments on the proposals. These assessments take into account the current economic, financial,and regulatory environment in each of these markets. MSCI Barra will continue to monitor and take into accountdevelopments in all these areas in the next few months when announcing its conclusions from the consultations.
In general, it is MSCI Barra’s sense that the market turmoil and increased financial and economic uncertainties may
have affected the speed of regulatory progress in several countries as well as investors’ appetite for changes intheir established investment processes. Please note that MSCI Barra’s conclusions from the consultations may or
may not lead to any changes in country classifications.

1.) Israel: During the consultations, which focused on market accessibility criteria, the main concern thatwas mentioned by international investors was the relatively short settlement cycle (“t+1”) for equities on theTel Aviv Stock Exchange. This settlement cycle differs from the one generally applied in Developed
Markets (“t+2” or “t+3”), and many investors would welcome a better alignment. The Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange is aware of this concern and is currently considering whether to make changes to its settlementcycle.
MSCI Barra will continue to monitor the situation and continue consultations and announce its conclusion
no later than June 2009.
2.) Korea: During the consultations, which focused on market accessibility criteria, international investors
continued to highlight some significant issues for Korea which are not characteristic of Developed Markets.
The focal points continue to be the limited convertibility of the Korean Won and the operational constraints
associated with the ID system.
In particular, with respect to the currency, investors mentioned both the lack of an offshore currency market
for the Korean won and the operational difficulties in dealing with the currency in the onshore market, assources of misalignment of currency transactions with the securities trading and settlement cycle whencompared to Developed Markets. With respect to the ID system, investors’ issues focused on several
related operational burdens, including the absence of omnibus accounts and the limited possibilities for offexchange and in-kind transfers which make the ID system cumbersome when compared to market practice

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in Developed Markets. These issues have been highlighted to the Korean authorities for their response.
Korea Government officials and regulators have expressed their interest in understanding the issues indetail and their willingness to explore options to address them, though within the existing policy frameworkand system setup.
MSCI Barra will continue to monitor the situation and consult with investors and the Korean authorities.
MSCI Barra’s preliminary assessment is that more time will be needed for authorities to act on thisfeedback, make additional changes and issue clarifications, and for market participants to evaluate theextent to which these potential improvements address their concerns. In addition, measures may need tobe taken to ensure that entrenched market practices do not impinge upon and impair what is legallypermissible. While MSCI Barra expects to release its conclusions from the consultation by June 2009, it ispossible that the time frame to reach a final conclusion may need to be extended.
3.) Kuwait: Compared to Emerging Markets standards, Kuwait still exhibits significant shortcomings interms of market accessibility. International investors have particularly expressed serious concerns relative
to the disclosure and enforcement of market regulations as well as to the quality of the information flow.
Consequently MSCI Barra’s preliminary assessment is that the MSCI Kuwait Index will continue to beclassified as a Frontier Markets Index. MSCI Barra will continue to monitor developments and will
announce its conclusions by no later than June 2009.
4.) Qatar: The issue most frequently raised by international investors on the proposal to reclassify Qatar as
an Emerging Market is the very stringent foreign ownership limits imposed by the Qatari authorities and theresulting low free float of Qatari companies and low foreign room, defined as the proportion of shares stillavailable to foreign investors relative to the maximum allowed. While improvements are expected on theregulatory front, the persistence of these very low foreign ownership limits significantly limits accessibility ofthe market. MSCI Barra’s preliminary assessment is that the MSCI Qatar Index will continue to beclassified as a Frontier Markets Index. MSCI Barra will continue to monitor developments and will
announce its conclusions by no later than June 20095.) UAE: Within the region, the United Arab Emirates is relatively advanced in terms of marketaccessibility. Investors welcome the reasonably high degree of efficiency of the country’s operationalframework and in particular its market organization.
However, the lack of segregation between custody and trading accounts has been one of the frequentlymentioned concerns. It is our understanding that authorities and regulators of the UAE have been active indrafting new regulations to address this and other issues, and investors are looking forward to notable
positive changes coming into effect soon. Another concern for international institutional investors is thestringent foreign ownership limits applied by Emirati companies and the resulting low foreign room. The
potential reclassification of the MSCI United Arab Emirates Index as an Emerging Markets Index would
further stress the foreign room issue due to potential increased international capital inflows into the Emirati
equity market.
MSCI Barra will continue monitoring developments and consulting with investors and will announce its
conclusions no later than June 2009.

MSCI Barra continues to welcome further feedback from market participants on these preliminary assessments.
MSCI Barra will announce its conclusions from these consultations on the reclassification of the MSCI Israel,Kuwait, Qatar, and UAE Indices no later than June 2009. In the case of the MSCI Korea Index, the time frame todraw final conclusions may be delayed beyond June 2009. MSCI Barra reiterates that these consultations may or
may not lead to reclassification of any country indices.
In addition, MSCI Barra also announces the following actions on the status of the MSCI Argentina and Colombia
Indices.

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1.) Argentina: MSCI Barra will open in January 2009, a consultation with market participants on a proposal
to reclassify the MSCI Argentina Index as a Frontier Markets Index at the end of May 2009, and at thesame time to include only ADR securities in the Index.
The decision to launch this consultation has been taken as no improvements in restrictions to capital flows
have been observed in Argentina.
This consultation may or may not lead to the reclassification of the MSCI Argentina Index as a FrontierMarkets Index. MSCI Barra will announce its decision in February 2009.
2.) Colombia: MSCI Barra will maintain the classification of the MSCI Colombia Index as an Emerging
Markets Index.
On September 1, 2008, the Ministry of Finance of Colombia announced the immediate removal of capitalcontrols on foreign portfolio investment in equities. MSCI Barra has been seeking feedback frominternational market participants on their experience in investing in the Colombia equity market followingthat change and has received no negative comment so far.
Therefore MSCI Barra will not open a consultation on the status of the MSCI Colombia Index in the MSCI
Equity Indices at this time. MSCI Barra will continue to monitor the situation closely. Should capital controls
be re-introduced, MSCI Barra would consider opening a consultation on the potential reclassification of theIndex.
###Reminders:
As announced in June 2008, the MSCI Jordan Index was reclassified as a Frontier Markets Index at the November
2008 Semi-Annual Index Review.
On December 10, 2008 MSCI Barra announced that it will remove the MSCI Pakistan Index from the MSCIEmerging Markets Index as of the close of December 31, 2008. If and when investability conditions return to morenormal levels in the Pakistani equity market, MSCI Barra will, in due course, reassess the situation and consult withinternational institutional investors on the inclusion of the MSCI Pakistan Index in the appropriate MSCI
international equity indices, including the MSCI Frontier Markets Index.

###About MSCI Barra
MSCI Barra is a leading provider of investment decision support tools to investment institutions worldwide. MSCI
Barra products include indices and portfolio risk and performance analytics for use in managing equity, fixedincome and multi-asset class portfolios.
The company’s flagship products are the MSCI International Equity Indices, which are estimated to have over
USD 3 trillion benchmarked to them, and the Barra risk models and portfolio analytics, which cover 56 equity and46 fixed income markets. MSCI Barra is headquartered in New York, with research and commercial offices aroundthe world. Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm, is the controlling shareholder of MSCI Barra.
MSCI Barra was recently named Index Provider of the Year at the European Pensions Awards and Best Provider ofBenchmark Indices in Asia Pacific at the AsianInvestor Service Provider Awards.

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