MSCI Freezes Some Turkish Index Changes Ahead of Its 2027 Review

MSCI has limited how Turkish shares can gain representation in its indexes, citing concerns about possible coordinated trading by funds linked to smaller companies while leaving Turkey’s emerging-market classification unchanged.

Effective Oct. 15, the freeze covers increases to Foreign Inclusion Factors or Number of Shares, new entries to the MSCI Turkey Investable Market Index and moves to higher size-segment indexes. The restrictions remain until further notice. The measure does not remove Turkish stocks from MSCI indexes or change the country’s current classification.

MSCI raised concerns about the reliability of free-float estimates and called for more timely beneficial-ownership disclosures, stronger market surveillance and enforcement, and clearer rules for identifying distorted free float. The concerns relate to possible trading coordination; they do not establish that companies or specific market participants manipulated shares.

Turkey’s Capital Markets Board (SPK), the country’s securities regulator, described fund-driven price movements in low-free-float stocks during the fourth quarter of 2025 that it said economic conditions or company fundamentals could not explain. On Sept. 17, the regulator ordered 131 funds linked to seven portfolio management companies to be liquidated. The funds had 455,758 unique investors.

MSCI set June 2027 as a checkpoint for progress and will reassess Turkey’s classification in its 2027 annual review. If it finds progress insufficient, it may consider consulting on a reclassification. Turkey remains an emerging market pending that review.