Sustainable Pension Return X EUR

Ernesto Sanichar is Portfolio Manager and member of the Sustainable Multi Asset team. He responsible for the Robeco Multi Asset funds, Robeco ONE and Defined contribution funds. His asset specialties are fixed income and FX. He has been part of Robeco's Investment Solutions department since 2005. Previously, he was Treasury Manager for four years. Prior to joining Robeco in 2001, Ernesto worked at ING Barings as a Product controller at the cash equities and derivatives desk for three years. Ernesto started his career in the investment industry in 1998. He holds a Master's in Financial Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.

The fund is established in the Netherlands. The fund is closed for corporate-income tax purposes (fiscally transparent). This means that all results are attributed directly to the participants. As a consequence, the fund is not liable to corporate-income tax and withholds no dividend tax.

Professional investors are divided into pension funds and non-pension funds. Dutch pension funds may re-claim the 25% dividend tax deducted on cash dividends entirely. Dutch non-pension funds may deduct the 25% dividend tax deducted on cash dividends in their corporate income tax assessment. Dividend tax in that case is tax deducted at source. No tax is deducted at source on interest income. Thus, Dutch pension funds do not owe taxes on interest income. Dutch non-pension funds should specify interest income in their corporate income tax assessment.

The fund invests a minimum of 80% in other Robeco managed or externally managed funds which are classified under Article 8 or 9 of SFDR and either promote environmental or social characteristics or have sustainable investment as their objective. Sustainability is thus an important considerations in the fund selection.

Markets inched forward over April, as investors nervously await guidance from the Federal Reserve as to whether April is likely to be the last rate rise of this cycle. Within equities, US tech companies continue to deliver strong earnings and dragged markets higher. This leads to a very narrow number of stocks that outperform, which creates a challenging backdrop for stock pickers. First-quarter earnings continue to come in slightly ahead of expectations, but given the 12 to 18 months it typically takes for the Fed to soften the labor market – any compression on company margins may not be visible until later in the year. From a macro perspective, US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of 2023, despite strong consumer spending. The Eurozone also posted meagre growth over the quarter. In contrast, China reported stronger-than-expected growth, with the surprise double-digit export and retail growth in March, spurring optimism that China's economic rebound has begun. Both global equities (EUR) and global government bonds (hedged to EUR) delivered a marginal positive return of 0.1%.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was -0.15%. Sustainable Pension Return delivered a negative return of -0.25% in April. The performance of the funds in the portfolio was a mixed bag. Northern Trust - Emerging Markets Custom ESG Fund and Robeco QI Global Multi-Factor High Yield were detractors this month. The Robeco QI Global Developed Enhanced Index Eq Fund was the best-performing fund in the portfolio.

The funds are managed against fixed strategic weights for global equities (55%), real estate (20%), emerging market equities (15%) and high yield bonds (10%). We do not apply any kind of active management.