Boursa Kuwait hosts MSCI investor forum for 2nd consecutive year

Boursa Kuwait hosted the MSCI Institutional Investor Forum at its headquarters for the second consecutive year, convening senior institutional investment professionals to examine artificial intelligence, geopolitics, public and private markets, index innovation, sustainability and risk management. The event was one of three MSCI gatherings across the Middle East in 2026 and continued a knowledge exchange between Boursa Kuwait and MSCI that began in 2020.

"The investment environment is changing at pace, driven by advances in artificial intelligence and data, geopolitical shifts and the growth of private markets, which makes direct dialogue with global research and investment institutions more important than ever," said Noura Al-Abdulkareem, Head of Markets at Boursa Kuwait. "Kuwait's selection as part of the MSCI Institutional Investor Forum's regional tour reflects the Kuwaiti capital market's growing presence within the region's institutional investment landscape."

Forum agenda and specialist contributions

The forum featured specialist sessions designed to give institutional investors direct access to MSCI research and analytical tools. Sessions included:

• Positioning for a shifting world: AI, geopolitics and the new investment paradigm — led by Ashley Lester, Chief Research and Development Officer at MSCI, who examined how AI and geopolitical shifts affect portfolio construction, strategic allocation and investment opportunities.
• Public market structures and alpha sources — presented by Seibert Kruger, Head of Institutional Investment Research at MSCI, focusing on changes in public market structures, factor insights and index innovation.
• Private markets data and valuation — Uday Karri, Vice President, Research & Development at MSCI, discussed "Private Markets in Focus: Turning Clearer Data into Better Decisions," emphasising transparency and data quality in assessing private-market investments.
• Sustainability and climate-related financial exposure — Bentley Kaplan, Vice President, Research & Development at MSCI, closed sessions with "Materiality, Mapped: From Sustainability to Structural Exposure," linking sustainability and climate data to financial performance across Gulf markets.

MSCI Executive Director and Head of Middle East Justin Kennedy-Lunde framed the forum within a broader industry dynamic: "Institutional investors today operate in an environment marked by rapid geopolitical and technological change and growing interconnection between public and private markets. This backdrop raises the value of specialist research, high-quality data and advanced analytical tools in understanding risk and opportunity and building portfolios that can adapt to change."

Context and implications for Kuwait markets

Delegates included brokers, asset managers, listed-company representatives and other market participants who used the forum to discuss index innovation, investment-exposure analysis, and performance measurement across public and private markets. For listed companies, presenters highlighted investor priorities such as data quality, transparency, sustainability and risk management — areas that align with Boursa Kuwait's stated efforts to strengthen investor relations and disclosure practices.

The event builds on MSCI's 2019 announcement that Kuwait would be reclassified from "Frontier" to "Emerging Market" status, a change that took effect in November 2020 and led to seven Kuwaiti companies being included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index on November 30, 2020. The forum's organisers said the second hosting reflects an evolution from that reclassification toward deeper, ongoing institutional dialogue.

Outlook

Organisers expect the forum to continue fostering engagement between Kuwait’s investment community and global institutional expertise as specialist data and research become increasingly central to assessing risk and opportunity. Participants left with fresh analysis on AI-driven strategies, private market valuation, sustainability metrics and index developments — practical inputs investors can use to refine portfolio construction and risk-management approaches in a shifting investment landscape.