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Remy Briand
Head of ESG
As Head of ESG at MSCI, Remy Briand is responsible for research across all MSCI products, including indexes, risk models and ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings. Over his 25 year career as an investor, independent thinker and business leader, Remy has gained unique insights on topics including global investing, emerging markets, sustainable investment and financial innovation. He regularly shares his views at industry conferences and with financial news media. Remy holds an MSc in Computer Sciences from INSA (Lyon) and an MBA from HEC (Paris).
Research and Insights
Articles by Remy Briand
Scenarios, Stress Tests and Strategies for Fourth Quarter 2016
Research Report | Dec 8, 2016 | Remy Briand, Carlo Acerbi, Raghu Suryanarayanan, Thomas VerbrakenA year marked by Brexit and Trump is ending with widespread uncertainty.
Scenarios, Stress Tests and Strategies for Second Quarter 2016 - The Rise of Populism
Research Report | Jul 14, 2016 | Linda-Eling Lee, Remy Briand, Carlo Acerbi, Raghu Suryanarayanan, Thomas Verbraken, Manish ShakdwipeeThe decision by a majority of U.K. voters to leave the European Union shines a light on fissures between perceived winners and losers from globalized markets and highlights for investors the importance of factoring the consequences of inequality and popular discontent into their views. The latest edition of MSCI’s “Scenarios, Stress Tests and Strategies” examines the potential impacts on institutional portfolios of a tide of populist sentiment across Europe and the U.S.
What Matters for Investors in the Long Run
Blog | May 17, 2016 | Remy BriandInvestors who aim to understand what drives returns over the long run might look to the Land of the Midnight Sun.
Our First-Quarter Review of Global Stress Points
Blog | Apr 27, 2016 | Remy BriandMarket movements in the first three months of the year reflected wide gyrations in investors’ assumptions about macroeconomic conditions and asset pricing.
Should you Hedge your Foreign Currency Exposure?
Blog | Apr 5, 2016 | Remy BriandThe volatility of currency has increased in recent years as a combination of quantitative easing and currency wars fuel swings in the foreign-exchange market.
The Value Factor Marks A Decade of Disappointment
Blog | Mar 9, 2016 | Remy BriandCall it a lost decade. The value factor recently marked 10 years of decline in the U.S.
How Smart Beta has Performed Amid the Volatility
Blog | Feb 16, 2016 | Remy BriandThe fitfulness of the global recovery has produced quick and unexpected changes in financial markets and handed portfolio managers the challenge of allocating assets amid the market stress.
Scenarios, Stress Tests and Strategies for 2016
Research Report | Jan 19, 2016 | Andrei Morozov, Mehmet Bayraktar, Remy Briand, Jesse Phillips, Carlo Acerbi, Raghu Suryanarayanan, Thomas Verbraken, Roman Kouzmenko, Jahiz BarlasHeading into 2016, MSCI examined 12 stress points globally to be used in quantifying the effect on portfolios of a range of shifts in markets, liquidity and the macroeconomy. These stress points include the prospect of additional interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, weakness in the eurozone and a deceleration in Chinese economic growth.
2016: The Year of Living Dangerously?
Blog | Jan 13, 2016 | Remy BriandIf 2015 market volatility frayed investor nerves, 2016 might be even more of a nail-biter. MSCI identified 12 stress points globally to be used in quantifying the effect on portfolios of a range of shifts in markets, liquidity and the macroeconomy.
Economic Exposure in Global Investing
Blog | Jul 8, 2015 | Remy BriandAs companies expand their footprint globally, the geographic distribution of their revenues evolves over time and their economic exposures may diverge from their country of domicile and primary listing. We believe that this raises a critical issue for institutional investors.
Can ESG Add Alpha?
Blog | Jun 17, 2015 | Remy BriandInterest in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) mandates has grown considerably over the past few years, but some institutional investors remain concerned that inclusion of ESG factors may come at the cost of weaker risk-adjusted returns. Our research shows that this is not necessarily the case.
Global Equity Allocation: A New Paradigm Developing
Blog | Apr 29, 2015 | Remy BriandMaintaining a “home bias” in the equity portfolio may come with huge opportunity costs. In a 2012 study MSCI prepared for Norway’s Ministry of Finance, we examined...
Beyond Divestment: Using Low Carbon Indexes
Research Report | Mar 26, 2015 | Linda-Eling Lee, Remy Briand, Véronique MenouWinner of the 2015 IRRC Institute Investor Research Award for best practitioner paper. Approaches based on divesting certain sectors effectively can help asset owners communicate their concerns about the risks of climate change to stakeholders. However, they ignore short-term benchmark risk. Further, a focus on divesting reserves disregards fixed assets that are at risk of losing value because they depend on burning fossil fuel reserves. This paper provides a framework for evaluating ways to...
Foundations of Factor Investing
Research Report | Jan 31, 2013 | Dimitris Melas, Remy Briand, Subramanian AylurThis paper discusses the rationale for factor investing and how indexe can be constructed to reflect factor returns in cost-effective and transparent ways. We currently identify six equity risk factors that have historically earned a long-term risk premium and represent exposure to systematic sources of risk: Value, Low Size, Low Volatility, High Yield, Quality and Momentum.