FTSE Russell Debuts Thematic Index Series Built on MarketPsych AI

FTSE Russell, LSEG’s global index provider, on September 29, 2026 announced the launch of the FTSE MarketPsych Thematic Index Series, a family of thematic equity indices developed in partnership with MarketPsych, which the announcement describes as a leader in sentiment-driven analytics and behavioural economics tools.

The series uses a thematic classification database developed through MarketPsych’s AI technology-enabled framework, which analyses LSEG datasets spanning news, transcripts and financial data for context, meaning and relevance. The resulting thematic dataset is incorporated into FTSE Russell’s rules-based index construction process. Themes are being developed across five pillars: Technology & Innovation, Society & Demographics, Geopolitical Realignment, Natural Resources & Infrastructure, and Health & Wellbeing, encompassing trends from AI and quantum computing to new energy, space exploration and ageing populations.

Gerald Toledano, Global Head of Equities and Multi-Assets at FTSE Russell, said: “We are excited to launch the FTSE MarketPsych Thematic Index Series today, building on LSEG’s long-standing partnership with MarketPsych and reflecting FTSE Russell’s continued focus on developing innovative indexing solutions. By integrating MarketPsych’s AI technology-enabled workflow with LSEG’s extensive datasets and FTSE Russell’s rules-based index construction process, the series provides clients with a systematic and investable approach to accessing evolving investment themes.”

Richard Peterson, CEO at MarketPsych, said: “Through this partnership, we are pleased to support FTSE Russell in enhancing its thematic indexing capabilities and addressing longstanding investor demand. MarketPsych’s AI and NLP-driven models generate differentiated datasets and insights, which can then be systematically integrated into transparent, rules-based index construction. This approach enables the creation of institutionally scalable, investable indices, extending the reach of our technology to a growing global investor base.”

Theme Taxonomy and Exposure Scoring

Each theme is defined by FTSE Russell through a Theme Taxonomy covering the theme definition, maturity level, sub-themes and clear boundaries around what is in and out of scope, according to the series’ product page. Each theme is then broken into more granular sub-themes representing relevant activities and parts of the value chain. A series brochure published by FTSE Russell presents a Future Transport worked example that decomposes the theme into sub-themes spanning electric vehicles and their supply chain, autonomy and vehicle AI, charging infrastructure and vehicle-grid integration, advanced air mobility, and robotaxi and autonomous mobility services, with companies mapped to sub-themes product by product.

Each theme is classified as Emerging, Scaling or Mature based on its lifecycle stage. For emerging themes, where reported revenue may still be limited, the methodology places greater emphasis on forward-looking signals; as a theme develops, reported revenue becomes a stronger indicator of exposure. The brochure lists quantum computing as an emerging theme, AI, robotics and space exploration as scaling themes, and cybersecurity and luxury goods as mature themes.

The assessment combines forward- and backward-looking signals drawn from LSEG data, including company filings and business descriptions, reported financial and segment data, earnings transcripts, news and consensus forecasts. These inputs feed a single Thematic Exposure Score on a 0-to-100 scale that determines each company’s purity tier and eligibility across the index variants. The brochure sets tier bands of 50 to 100 for Pure Play, 25 to 49 for Majority, and 10 to 24 for Partial, with scores below 10 not eligible. Each company receives a Revenue score and a Forward score computed by fixed rules and checked by an independent AI judge.

Approximately 10,000 companies from the FTSE Global Equity Index Series and Russell US universes enter the process for each theme; about 2,000 pass a relevance filter and 100 to 400 are scored, according to the brochure. The process runs more than 120,000 screening, classification and validation checks, screens more than 85,000 news and transcript observations, and completes assessment of a theme in under three hours. The data stack includes Worldscope business descriptions and segment revenue, product and geographic revenue breakdowns, income statements, earnings call transcripts, IBES consensus estimates, and LSEG MarketPsych transcript analytics and news data.

A June 2026 worked example in the brochure scored IBM on the quantum technology theme with a revenue score of 2 out of 100 and a forward score of 42 out of 100. The documented assessment cited IBM’s dedicated IBM Quantum business unit, FY2025 segment figures listing IBM Quantum at 5%, an earnings-call statement that the company had deployed more than 85 quantum systems for a global ecosystem of more than 300 organizations, and product evidence including the IBM Quantum System One, the 133-qubit Heron quantum processor, an IBM-AMD quantum error correction collaboration, and the Starling product in development.

Variants, Governance and Availability

Three index variants are built from the same scoring architecture. Pure holds companies in the Pure Play tier, Core adds the Majority tier, and Ecosystem extends coverage to companies with Partial exposure for broader representation of the thematic value chain. The series is built on the FTSE Global Equity Index Series and Russell US universe, with global, regional and single-country coverage and market-cap segmentation.

Under the partnership, FTSE Russell defines the Theme Taxonomy and methodology, sets the index rules, and is responsible for index calculation, maintenance and governance, while MarketPsych provides AI and text analytics supporting the exposure assessment, including the analysis and classification of company information, earnings transcripts and news. Governance arrangements include semi-annual reviews and rebalances on a published cycle, a Thematics Advisory Committee, and expert human review of AI outputs before they reach any index. The brochure states the series has been designed around LSEG’s Responsible AI Principles, with published ground rules and documented audit trails.

The brochure characterizes traditional thematic indices as constrained by revenue lag, with annual revenue disclosures trailing thematic developments by 12 to 18 months, by black-box methodologies offering little visibility into individual constituent decisions, and by theme washing, in which basic keyword scanning can capture companies that mention a theme in filings without generating revenue from it. FTSE Russell states in the brochure that the series’ multi-signal framework, transparent methodology and independent verification are designed to address those limitations.

The product page currently lists factsheets, methodology documents and an index performance table as available soon.