Robeco FinTech I EUR

September was a negative month with global equity markets declining -4.1% in USD, bringing the total YTD return to +11.1%. The underlying shifts that we witnessed throughout the year continued in the last week of September, as the MSCI ACWI Financials Index returned -1.4% while the MSCI ACWI Information Technology Index yielded -5.7% in USD. Besides stock market returns and our participation in numerous virtual company meetings, the highlight of the month was our attendance in-person at Money 20/20. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and embedding it in platforms continues to gain importance in the payments arena. Affirm, a provider of BNPL solutions, mentioned during a meeting that they see take rate compression with short-term BNPL offerings like Pay-in-3 installments. However, Affirm does not see take rate compression with longer term BNPL offerings, as BNPL providers need to have a real credit scoring system.

The fund can engage in currency hedging transactions. Typically currency hedging is not applied.

The fund does not distribute dividend. The fund retains any income that is earned, and so its entire performance is reflected in the price.

Robeco FinTech integrates ESG factors into its investment process by analyzing the impact of financially material ESG factors to a company’s competitive position and value drivers. We believe that this enhances our ability to understand existing and potential (long-term) risks and opportunities of a company. The impact of material ESG factors can be positive or negative, reflecting risks or opportunities, that ensue from a company’s ESG analysis. If ESG risks and opportunities are significant, the ESG analysis could impact a stock’s fair value and the portfolio allocation decision. In addition to ESG integration, Robeco also has an exclusion policy and conducts proxy voting and engagement activities focused on specific themes, such as climate change, aiming to improve a company’s sustainability profile.

Robeco FinTech is an actively managed fund that invests in stocks in developed and emerging countries. The selection of these stocks is based on fundamental analysis. The fund's objective is to achieve a better return than the index. The fund promotes ESG (i.e. Environmental, Social and corporate Governance) characteristics within the meaning of Article 8 of the European Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and integrates ESG and sustainability risks in the investment process. In addition, the fund applies an exclusion list on the basis of controversial behavior, products (including controversial weapons, tobacco, palm oil and fossil fuel) and countries, next to voting and engaging. Proprietary valuation models are used to select stocks with good earnings prospects and a reasonable valuation and those companies which benefit from the increasing digitization of the financial sector are included. These are individually assessed on the basis of industry trend analysis, in-depth discussions with corporate management, analysts and industry experts. The majority of stocks selected will be components of the Benchmark, but stocks outside the Benchmark may be selected too. The investment policy is not constrained by a benchmark but the fund may use a benchmark for comparison purposes. The fund can deviate substantially from the issuer, country and sector weightings of the Benchmark. There are no restrictions on the deviation from the Benchmark. The Benchmark is a broad market weighted index that is not consistent with the ESG characteristics promoted by the fund.

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