Robeco Financial Institutions Bonds D3H USD

The final month of the year was another month with positive spread performance. Subordinated debt is catching up with the broader credit market and outperformed this broader market in December. After a very volatile year, the average spread for the index is now very close to the level that we saw at the start of the year. As expected, the ECB announced a further expansion of its bond buying program, both in terms of the amount that can be invested and in the duration of the program. The Fed was fairly dovish in its December meeting too, signaling that it will take years before interest rates are raised again. While the picture for monetary support remained rosy, the short-term outlook for economies actually deteriorated, as more and more countries are applying strict lockdowns again. Investors are not too concerned, as vaccination programs have started. The tail risk of a hard Brexit has been removed now that Europe and the UK have finally come to an agreement on trade relations. Most bonds of UK banks did no longer offer that much extra spread as compensation for Brexit risk anyway, as markets had anticipated a last-minute deal already.

All currency risks are hedged.

Robeco Financial Institutions Bonds fund make use of derivatives for hedging purposes as well as for investment purposes. These derivatives are very liquid.

The fund aims to pay a quarterly dividend.

Our analysis of issuers goes beyond the traditional financial factors and includes the issuers’ performance on ESG factors. We deem it essential for a well-informed investment decision to take into account those ESG factors that have the potential to materially impact the financial performance of the issuer. This perfectly matches the basic need to avoid the losers in credit management, as many credit events in the past can be attributed to issues such as poorly designed governance frameworks, environmental issues, or weak health & safety standards. The aim of ESG integration is to improve the risk/return profile of the investments and does not have an impact goal. ESG analysis is fully integrated in the bottom-up security analysis. We have defined key ESG factors per industry, and for every company we analyze how the firm is positioned versus these key ESG factors, and how this impacts the fundamental credit quality.

Robeco Financial Institutions Bonds mainly invests in subordinated euro-denominated bonds issued by financial institutions. The fund offers a diversified exposure across 50-60 issuers, including the new style hybrid bonds that are being issued on the back of Basel III regulation. Focus of the fund are higher rated bonds (investment grade) with a tilt to Tier 2 bonds. The fund aims to outperform its index Barclays Euro-Aggregate: Corporates Financials Subordinated 2% Issuer Cap. The index applies an issuer cap to avoid concentration risk. The investment philosophy is based on managing a solid diversified portfolio with a long term view. Top-down beta positioning is based on the outcome of our credit quarterly outlook meeting, in which the team is discussing the fundamental market outlook, valuation of bond markets and market technicals. Bottom-up issuer research is executed by our credit analysts, who execute the fundamental analysis. The portfolio managers are responsible for the portfolio construction. A proprietary developed risk management approach avoids high risk concentration in the portfolio. As the investment process is well-structured and proven over time, it contributes to repeatable performance delivery. Duration of the portfolio is managed in line with the index and currency exposure is hedged.

Risk management is fully embedded in the investment process to ensure that positions always meet predefined guidelines.