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STOXX Limited, a leading provider of innovative, tradable and global index concepts, today announced an update of its country classification rules. The announcement follows a meeting of the STOXX Advisory Board. The updated rulebook is introduced with immediate effect.
The STOXX country classification model relies on a rules-based methodology, and is the first such concept to exclude any subjective decisions from the process. The five criteria for the classification of a country as a developed or emerging marked include macroeconomic data, market capitalization, market liquidity, free currency convertibility on onshore and offshore markets, and restrictions on capital flows.
Today’s update to the country classification rules introduces a buffer to the market capitalization screening. Under the new rule, countries’ total value of traded shares must be higher than 15 billion US dollar to be considered as a developed or emerging market; and all countries that are currently classified as such need to have at least 10 billion US dollar traded shares to continue to do so. Under the old rule, the threshold for both the initial classification as well as the continuation was 15 billion US dollar.
For the above-mentioned criteria, the average data, according to World Bank data, of the last three consecutive years are used in order to avoid short-term fluctuations.
The STOXX Advisory Board, which is made up of a wide range of market participants and includes representatives from both the sell-side and the buy-side in a broad range of relevant functions, provides independent advice regarding the methodology and rules of the STOXX index family on a regular basis. Today’s clarification of the index methodology is a result of recent market consultations and reflects STOXX Limited’s commitment to transparency.
A new version of the STOXX Index Guide can be downloaded at www.stoxx.com/indices/rulebooks.html.
