Evli Short Corporate Bond

The aim is to achieve a return which exceeds the return of the benchmark during a 12-month investment horizon.

The level of diversification in the investment portfolio is large both within every fixed income asset class and between the asset classes which keeps the fund’s overall risk moderate. A particular characteristic of the fund is to achieve a high risk adjusted return by a large diversification among none or low correlating fixed income assets and by an active reallocation of assets among these asset classes.

The fund’s investments carry a credit risk

Credit risk originates from a bond issuer’s ability to repay the bond’s coupons and capital on the maturity date. In the fund’s investments, the default risk arising from an individual issuer is reduced by diversifying the investments among various issuers. The risk premium (credit margin) required by investors varies during the bonds’ exercise period according to the market conditions and factors related to individual issuers.

As the fund’s floating-rate bond investments are susceptible to changes in risk premiums, the fund’s value may fluctuate.

The fund’s value is affected by interest rate risk

As money market funds carry a small interest rate risk, the effect of interest rate risk on the fund’s performance is small.

August was like July, a month with a total U-turn in capital markets. The positive tone and sentiment experienced in July suddenly vaporized in mid-August and markets tumbled. In particular, the devastating surge in energy prices was a toxic ingredient to the economic and inflation outlook – and added pressure on the ECB to deliver a sizeable rate hike in the upcoming September meeting. Many economists expect a 75-bp hike and as a result, money market rates rose rapidly. In longer rates, the German 2-year yield surged from 0.28% to 1.20%, and the 10-year rate almost doubled to 1.54%.

The fund suffered from both a rise in rates and widening of spreads, netting -1.16% in August. By sector, Banking was the weakest due to relatively high modified duration, while Basic Industry was a bright spot especially thanks to high FRN exposure. The primary market was effectively shut down in August.

Investors were expecting autumn to be busy in the primary market, but in the current turmoil, it is safe to assume most new issues will be pushed to the background, awaiting calmer market conditions. For the short maturity investor, it’s still of utmost importance to keep eyes on the horizon and focus on credit fundamentals, which continued to strengthen during a surprisingly strong Q2 in European and Nordic markets.

Sustainability information in accordance with Articles 6 and 8 of the EU SFDR regulation 2019/2088 (sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector).

The fund promotes environmental and social characteristics in accordance with Article 8 of the SFDR.

Sustainability risks are taken into account in investment decisions

When building and monitoring the fund’s investment portfolio, traditional financial and other key indicators, such as risk and valuation indicators, and also sustainability risks are taken into account in investment decisions. In addition to the analysis made in connection with investment decisions, the sustainability risk is managed with the exclusion of certain sectors and/or companies. When realized, material sustainability risks can affect the financial performance of the fund’s investment instruments, and therefore the fund’s return.

Excluding certain sectors and/or financial instruments from investment can reduce the fund’s sustainability risk. It can, however, increase the fund’s concentration risk. A potential increase in concentration risk, taken in isolation, may lead to greater volatility and increase the risk of loss.

Environmental and social characteristics

In addition to other characteristics, the fund promotes environmental and social characteristics in accordance with Evli's Principles for Responsible Investment and requires that target companies observe good governance.

The fund’s target companies are analyzed before an investment decision is made and at regular intervals during the investment period with regard to environmental, social and corporate governance matters, or ESG factors. ESG factors are integrated into the analysis of target companies and their selection for investment by the fund.

Evli has built an internal ESG database based on data produced by MSCI ESG Research and ISS ESG, which it uses to monitor ESG factors. For each fund an ESG score is calculated, reflecting how well the companies a fund has invested in have taken sustainability risks and opportunities into consideration as a whole. The indicators also include company-specific ESG scores and their development, information on any UN Global Compact violations, the company’s reputation risk, carbon footprint and the proportion of fossil reserves. Evli also engages with target companies in accordance with Evli's ownership control principles. Engagement may be motivated by violations of UN Global Compact norms or reasons related to climate goals.

The fund’s carbon footprint and emission indicators are measured and monitored, and a regular scenario analysis is conducted to monitor the attainment of Evli's general climate targets. Evli's goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest, and it has set a target of a 50 percent reduction in indirect emissions from investments by 2030, provided that this is possible in the investment environment. The comparison year is 2019. The attainment of the climate targets will be measured using data from ISS ESG and MSCI ESG to monitor the fund’s carbon footprint and intensity, the degree of low-carbon transition, a scenario analysis in relation to the 1.5 degree warming target and the warming ratio associated with the fund.

The EU Taxonomy Regulation defines economic activities that are environmentally sustainable. In order for an economic activity to be considered environmentally sustainable under the EU Taxonomy Regulation it must not, in addition to contributing to one or more environmental objectives, cause significant harm to other environmental objectives mentioned in the Regulation. The “do no significant harm” principle applies only to those investments underlying the financial product that take into account the EU criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities. The investments underlying the remaining portion of this financial product do not take into account the EU criteria for environmentally sustainable economic activities. The Fund is not committed to making sustainable investments in accordance with the EU Taxonomy Regulation.

Good governance policy

An assessment of the quality of corporate governance is an important part of the assessment of potential investments.

Evli's ownership control principles require that the companies it invests in engage in good governance by complying with the Finnish Corporate Governance Code issued by the Securities Market Association, for example, or corresponding foreign guidelines, which often impose a partial framework on the remuneration models of the invested companies. In addition, Evli's Responsible Investment Team analyses the fund's investments every three months for any breaches of norms (UN Global Compact and OECD’s guidelines for multinational companies). The OECD's guidelines for multinational companies also cover disputes related to taxation. Consequently, such disputes may lead to the exclusion of an investment instrument.

ESG strategy

Various factors related to a company are taken into account when making investment decisions. ESG factors are a key part of risk analysis and investment decisions. Evli's Principles for Responsible Investment and Climate Change Principles establish a framework for its investment activities. Portfolio managers carry out analyses of the companies and their ESG-associated risks. The Responsible Investment Team supports the portfolio managers in their work, and Evli's Responsible Investment Steering Group makes decisions on the framework of responsible investment. Evli also has an internal ESG database which combines the responsibility data of the companies in which investments are made from various data sources.

Our responsibility reporting comprises fund ESG reports, customer-specific ESG reports, and the Responsible Investment Annual Report. Evli also reports on the promotion of environmental and social characteristics in accordance with the SFDR as part of the mutual funds’ annual review.

The Principles for Responsible Investment, the Climate Change Principles and the exclusion consensus criteria apply to all direct investments made by the fund.

The fund can use derivatives or other strategies occasionally, regularly, extensively or not at all. Its key investor information document (KIID) includes information on how often and for what purpose derivatives are used. Such investments are not covered by ESG requirements.

Evli’s Principles for Responsible Investment and exclusion

Evli's Principles for Responsible Investment define the basic standards for norm-based screening and exclusion of companies. Investments are regularly monitored with respect to the UN Global Compact principles. If the target company is found to violate the principles related to human rights, labor standards or the environment or actions against corruption as defined in the UN Global Compact initiative, Evli will engage with the company or exclude it from investments. On the basis of regular monitoring, Evli's Responsible Investment Team will take the necessary measures with respect to companies that are suspected of having violated international laws and regulations. Such companies can either be excluded directly or Evli can engage with them. If dialogue with a company fails or is deemed to be unhelpful, the company may be added to the exclusion list.

In accordance with Evli’s general exclusion principles, manufacturers of controversial weapons (landmines, cluster munitions, nuclear weapons, depleted uranium, chemical weapons and biological weapons) with a 0 percent revenue threshold, as well as tobacco manufacturers and producers of adult entertainment and companies involved in controversial lending (including so called pay-day lenders) with a 5 percent revenue threshold are excluded from the fund. In line with Evli's Climate Change Principles, the fund monitors the greenhouse gas emissions of its investments and avoids investing in companies in which at least 30 percent of revenue comes from extraction of thermal coal, use of thermal coal in energy production or the extraction of oil sands. This exclusion may be waived if the company has a clear plan to change its operations. In addition, companies producing peat for energy production are excluded.

In addition to the fund's own exclusion principles, the fund excludes alcohol and weapons and firearms manufacturers with a 5 percent revenue limit, gambling companies and fossil fuel mining, extracting, drilling and refining companies from its investments.

Benchmark index and fund responsibility profile

The fund’s benchmark index is a market-based index that does not consider sustainability factors. The benchmark index used by the fund can be found in the fund-specific key investor information document.

Read more about Evli's responsible investing