Raiffeisen KAG once again most successful fund company at FNG Seal Awards

Raiffeisen KAG was once again awarded many "stars" this year by FNG - Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen. With 18 funds awarded the highest rating, Raiffeisen KAG is the fund company with the most "3-star seal" products in its portfolio.

The highest score was awarded to a total of 130 funds. A total of 89 product providers submitted entries for the award of the seal this year. A "3-star" seal is only awarded to funds with a particularly sophisticated and comprehensive sustainability strategy that stand out in the categories of "institutional credibility", "product standards" and "portfolio focus" (stock selection, commitment and KPIs).

"The FNG seal is the SRI quality standard on the German-speaking financial market and we are delighted with the many top ratings. As a top provider of sustainable investment funds, such awards are extremely important for the credibility of our strategies. The recent top ratings for 18 funds are proof that we can maintain our quality standards at a very high level," says Hannes Cizek, CEO of Raiffeisen KAG.

Sustainable investing 2.0: accompanying the transformation

For Dieter Aigner, Managing Director and Chief Sustainable Investment Officer, this success is no coincidence, but the logical consequence of the consistent further development of the stringent sustainability process, which is also an international benchmark for other sustainable asset managers. "Sustainable investing 2.0 means investing responsibly and supporting the transformation," says Aigner.

Raiffeisen Capital Management has identified seven areas that are strongly affected by transformation and defined these as Future Transformation Topics. They are also important investment themes: Energy, infrastructure, circular economy, mobility, technology, raw materials as well as nutrition, health and well-being. "We have set up interdisciplinary working groups in fund management for these seven focal areas, which deal intensively with the respective subject matter, including with regard to ESG, and are in close dialogue with the other teams, as there are also many overlaps. The expertise gained in this way is an integral part of the investment process and therefore also flows directly as a qualitative, discretionary assessment into the decision as to whether we invest in a company or a state and thus support transformation," says Aigner.

Another challenging year for sustainable investments

In the last two years, sustainable investments have moved somewhat out of the investor focus. This has been triggered by geopolitical crises, the rise in oil prices and military spending as well as high inflation. The changed market environment is creating a noticeable headwind for companies in sectors such as renewable energies and recycling - however, the current valuation levels are now very attractive again in some cases. Raiffeisen KAG held euro 39.2 billion in assets under management as at the end of October 2023. Around 50% – euro 19.3 billion – are already managed according to strict ESG criteria.

To the FNG Seal

The FNG Seal is the quality standard for sustainable investment funds and similar financial products in German-speaking countries. The holistic methodology of the FNG-Label is based on a minimum standard. This includes transparency criteria and the consideration of labour and human rights, environmental protection and anti-corruption as summarised in the globally recognised UN Global Compact. All companies in the respective fund must also be fully analysed in terms of sustainability criteria. Investments in nuclear power, coal mining, coal-fired power generation, fracking, oil sands, tobacco and weapons & armaments are taboo (usually with a five per cent turnover tolerance). Sustainability funds that stand out in the areas of "institutional credibility", "product standards" and "portfolio focus" (selection & dialogue strategy, KPIs) receive up to three stars.

FNG Seal: further information

With its holistic approach, the FNG seal goes far beyond analysing individual securities in the portfolio. For example, 111 questions are used to analyse and evaluate the sustainability investment style, the associated investment process, the associated ESG research capabilities and any accompanying engagement process. In addition, elements such as reporting, controversy monitoring, the involvement of stakeholders and the product provider as such play an important role. 18 The more complex and intensive a product is in terms of sustainability at the various levels, the higher its sustainability quality and potential to ultimately achieve an indirect and direct impact. The independent testing and evaluation work is carried out by the non-profit scientific association F.I.R.S.T. in conjunction with Advanced Impact Research GmbH (AIR) as a university spin-off. Prof Dr Timo Busch from the University of Hamburg is the scientific director. The Qualitätssicherungs-gesellschaft Nachhaltiger Geldanlagen mbH (QNG) bears overall responsibility, in particular for the coordination, awarding and marketing of the FNG seal. An external committee with interdisciplinary expertise also accompanies the review process. The FNG seal has been recognised as "highly recommended" by the consumer portal www.label-online.de and has been included in the shopping basket of the German Council for Sustainable Development. It is also involved with other national, state labelling systems in a working group as part of the EU action plan for financing sustainable growth and has been invited several times by the French Ministry of Finance to further develop its ISR label. A scientific study came to the conclusion that the FNG label excels particularly in the criteria of transparency, rigour and governance. Detailed information on the methodology can be found in the procedural conditions Further information on the FNG seal: www.fng-siegel.org/einfuehrung

Explanations:

• KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator

• FNG stands for Forum Nachhaltige Geldanlagen

• ESG stands for environmental (E), social (S), and good corporate or national governance (G).

The investment strategy permits the Raiffeisen Sustainable European Equities to predominantly (relative to the associated risk) invest in derivatives.

The funds Raiffeisen Sustainable EmergingMarkets Equities, Raiffeisen Sustainable US Equities and Raiffeisen Sustainable European Equities exhibit elevated volatility, meaning that unit prices can move significantly higher or lower in short periods of time, and it is not possible to rule out loss of capital.