MSCI, a leading provider of indices, portfolio analytics, and services for global investors, announced on 1 March 2019 that it will increase the weight of China A shares in the MSCI indicesby increasing the inclusion factor from 5% to 20% inthree steps. «This decision follows an extensive global consultation witha large number of international institutional investors,including asset owners, asset managers, broker/dealers and other market participants worldwide. Theproposal to increase the weight of China A shares garneredoverwhelming support from investors», MSCI stated. “Stock Connect has proven to be a robust channel to access A shares. The successfulimplementation of the initial 5% inclusion of China A shares has been a positive experience forinternational institutional investors and has fosteredtheir appetiteto increase further their exposure tothe mainland China equity market,” said Remy Briand, MSCI managing director and chairman of the MSCI Index policy committee. “The strong commitment by the Chinese regulators to continue to improve market accessibility, evidenced by, among other things, the significant reduction in trading suspensionsin recent months,i s another critical factor that has won the support of international institutional investors.” The feedback gathered during the consultation showed that international institutional investors would preferthe weight of the China A Large Cap shares to beincreased in three steps rather than in two steps, as originally proposed, in order to relieve the firm from potential execution pressureon the implementation dates. In addition, a significant proportion of investors also highlighted that China A Mid Cap shares should be included in the MSCI indices jointly with the weight increase in Large Cap shares to enable for asmoother implementation. Finally, the proposal to add ChiNext to the list of eligible stock exchange segments for the MSCI Global Investable Market Indexes received wide acceptance. Consequently, MSCI will increase the weight of China A shares in the MSCI indicesaccording tothe following schedule: Step 1: MSCI will increase the index inclusion factor of all China A Large Cap sharesin the MSCI indicesfrom 5% to 10%and add ChiNextLarge Cap shareswith a 10% inclusion factor coinciding with the May 2019 Semi Annual Index Review. Step 2: MSCI will increasetheinclusion factorof all China A Large Cap sharesin the MSCI Indicesfrom 10% to 15%coinciding with the August 2019 Quarterly Index Review. Step 3: MSCI will increasetheinclusion factorof all China A Large Cap sharesin the MSCI Indicesfrom 15% to 20%and add China A Mid Cap shares,including eligible ChiNext shares, with a 20% inclusion factorto the MSCI Indicescoinciding with the November 2019 Semi-Annual Index Review. On completion of this three-step implementation, there will be 253 Large and 168 Mid Cap China A shares,including 27 ChiNext shares, on a pro forma basis in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index,representing a weight of 3.3% in the pro forma index.