The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System has adopted the NASDAQ Global Index Family to serve as preferred benchmarks for its equity investments.
This decision requires the pension's twenty investment managers to reconsider their current benchmarks with preference to NASDAQ Global Indexes.
The pension was attracted to NASDAQ OMX's rules-based, transparent index methodology and fee structure that utilizes a flat fee for the full scope of index data, unlike the more complex, restrictive pricing models of competitor index providers.
"NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes are significantly less expensive and provide nearly exactly the same market exposure as other benchmarks we have used," said Gerald Garrett, Chairman of Investment Committee of the Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System. "It is our responsibility to help our investment managers identify cost-savings opportunities and accomplish our investment goals and our decision to utilize NASDAQ OMX's Global Indexes helps us achieve those objectives."
The NASDAQ Global Index Family, covering large, mid- and small-cap equities across developed and emerging markets, was developed to compete directly with leading industry incumbent index providers.
"The Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System's endorsement of our indexes reflects a growing trend of pension plans and asset managers reviewing alternatives to their current benchmarks," said John Jacobs, Executive Vice President, NASDAQ OMX Global Indexes. "The pension appreciates the advantages we offer such as high quality index construction, a cost-efficient pricing structure, scalable technology and a large distribution network. This is yet another indication we are disrupting the status quo in the modern global indexing industry."
The NASDAQ Global Index Family represents more than 98% of the global equity investable marketplace and is comprised of over 25,000 indexes. The family consists of global securities broken down by market segment, region, country, size and sector. The NASDAQ Global Index Family covers 9,000 securities with a combined float-adjusted market capitalization of over $37 trillion. Like all NASDAQ OMX indexes, the NASDAQ Global Index Family is based on a transparent, rules-based index methodology. Over ten years of historical back-tested data is available for the entire global family. For more information about the NASDAQ OMX Global Index Family, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/