In November 2017, Robeco rolled out the equities fund. The fund makes investments in stocks of listed companies that benefit from the financial sector’s growing digitisation, and is expected to reach soon EUR 100 million in asset under management. As such, Robeco is one of the first-movers in beginning an actively managed fund solely investing in fintech companies that are listed and open to retail investors.
The fund is located in Luxembourg and will be available to Robeco’s core markets after it is registered. Patrick Lemmens, who also manages Robeco New World Financial Equities, and Jeroen van Oerle are the fund’s portfolio managers. They are both also a part of the company’s Trends Investing team, which manages EUR 3.2 billion as of the end of September 2017.
The Global FinTech Equities fund is a benchmark-agnostic entity that manages a dialled-in equities portfolio, and is diverse regarding risk characteristics and assorted drivers. For example, companies taking part in the proprietary constructed investment market will find themselves in one of three segments: today’s winners; fintech enablers, and challengers. Today’s winners are companies that already maintain a competitive advantage, while fintech enablers are entities who assist in the growing digitisation of finance. Challengers are business that potentially could be future winners.
Patrick Lemmens speaks on the launch of the new fund:
“I have been in the financial industry for almost 25 years, and with my background as trend investor, launching a FinTech fund is the perfect combination of these two aspects. FinTech is something that I have always been very passionate and enthusiastic about. In fact, we have invested in the digital finance trend for over six years now with Robeco New World Financial Equities as this is one of the three themes in that fund, but to launch a fund that solely invests in the FinTech space is very exciting. I strongly believe that digital finance will open the way to 2 billion people who currently don’t manage their financial affairs, and that on-line payment methods will become mainstream, while cash becomes the exception. With the launch of this fund, we enable investors to gain exposure to and profit from the trend of increasing digitization.”
About Robeco
Robeco was founded in 1929 in Rotterdam and is an international asset management company that offers a diverse range of active investments. Regarding investments, they prise suitability, ceaseless innovation, knowledge acquisition, and employing quantitive techniques.
