Summary
This Sub-Fund is actively managed and invests its net assets primarily in securities denominated in USD. At any time, this Sub-Fund invests a majority of its net assets in bonds and other debt securities. This Sub-Fund will have nominal net exposure of between 80% and 120% to High Yield products via the use of CDS (Credit Default Swaps) within the framework of effective management of the portfolio.
It promotes environmental and social characteristics but does not have as its objective sustainable investment.
The environmental and social characteristics promoted by this Sub-Fund only apply to the sovereign bond allocation of this Sub-Fund. The derivatives instruments, and notably high-yield CDS indices, are out of scope.
In terms of the social characteristics, this Sub-Fund promotes, via investments in sovereign bonds, the sustainability of a country’s economic performance given its efficacy meeting the basic needs of its population and reducing poverty, management of social and equity issues and investment in human capital and productivity.
In terms of the environmental characteristics, this Sub-Fund promotes, via investments in sovereign bonds, the sustainability of a country’s economic performance given its natural resource endowment, management and supplementation and its risk or resilience to climate change and other natural hazards.
The sustainability indicators used to assess social and environmental characteristics are based on internal environment and social scores built using data from external providers.
The indicator used to measure the attainment of the social characteristics will disclose the percentage of countries in this Sub-Fund that are in the bottom 10% of the considered universe on the internal social score.
The indicator used to measure the attainment of the environmental characteristics will disclose the percentage of countries in this Sub-Fund that are in the bottom 10% of the considered universe on the internal environmental score.
The ESG approach covers investments in sovereign bonds The derivative exposure in this Sub-Fund implemented to gain exposure to the high-yield market falls out of the scope of the ESG strategy.
The ESG approach starts with exclusions, in line with the Investment Manager’s Responsible Investment Policy. This is followed by ESG Integration, which aims at assessing sovereign issuers’ environmental and social performance through a proprietary model and qualitative checks. Finally, the Investment Manager prefers Green and Sustainability Bonds, subject to availability, liquidity, and relative value analysis. This Sub-Fund ambitions to increase its allocation to Green Bonds to 10% on a best effort basis should the depth of the market increase over time.
ESG analysis covers at least 80% of the Sub-Fund's allocation to bonds.
This Sub-Fund invests at least 51% in bonds aligned with the environmental and social characteristics promoted by the strategy.
The binding criteria used to attain each of the environmental and/or social characteristics promoted by the Sub-Fund are integrated in control systems, to ensure pre- and post‑trade checks. Compliance is monitored by the Risk department on an ongoing basis.
The Investment Manager primarily uses the World Bank as a source of data on sovereign ESG performance.
Depending on the metric considered, some data may be estimated by data providers. Although the Investment Manager applies a thorough selection process of third-party providers, their processes and proprietary ESG methodology may be flawed. As a result, there is a risk of incorrectly assessing an issuer, resulting in an inappropriate capture of ESG risks and potential incorrect inclusion or exclusion in the product. This is expected to have limited impact on the overall environmental and/or social characteristics promoted by the product.
The investment due diligence process ensures that the investment decisions comply with the objectives and the investment strategy of the Sub-Fund. The consideration of sustainability-related risks is integrated into the investment decision-making process to ensure better-informed investment decisions as well as awareness of the risk exposure. The first level of due diligence is conducted by the Investment Manager, while the second level is conducted by the Risk department.
No reference benchmark has been designated for the purpose of attaining the environmental or social characteristics promoted by this Sub-Fund.
For more information, please see the fund’s Sustainability-related disclosures.
