Patrick Lemmens is Lead Portfolio Manager within the Trends Equities team. He has a focus on financials/fintech. Prior to joining Robeco in 2008, he managed the ABN AMRO Financials fund from October 2003 to December 2007. Previously, he held the position of Analyst of Global Financials at ABN AMRO and was Global Sector Coordinator of the Financial Institutions Equities Group at ABN AMRO. Patrick Lemmens started his career in the investment industry in 1993. He holds a Master's in Business Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam and is a Certified European Financial Analyst. Michiel van Voorst is Co-Portfolio Manager within the Trends Equities team. He has a focus on financials/fintech/next digital billion. In 2019, Michiel rejoined Robeco from Union Bancaire Privée in Hong Kong where he was CIO Asian Equities. Prior to that, Michiel spent 12 years at Robeco in several senior positions including senior portfolio manager Rolinco Global Growth fund and Robeco Asian Stars. Prior to joining Robeco in 2005, Michiel was Portfolio Manager US Equity at PGGM and Economist with Rabobank Netherlands. Michiel started his career in the investment industry in 1996. Michiel van Voorst holds a Master’s in Economics from University of Utrecht and is a CFA® charterholder. Koos Burema is Co-Portfolio Manager within the Trends Equities team. He has a focus on financials/fintech. Koos was an Analyst with the Emerging Markets team covering Korea and technology in Taiwan and Mainland China. Besides this, he was responsible for the integration of ESG in the investment process. Before joining the team in January 2010, he worked as a Portfolio Manager for different sector teams within Robeco. He started his career in the industry in 2007. Koos holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Groningen and is a CFA® charterholder.

The fund is established in Luxembourg and is subject to the Luxembourg tax laws and regulations. The fund is not liable to pay any corporation, income, dividend or capital gains tax in Luxembourg. The fund is subject to an annual subscription tax ('tax d'abonnement') in Luxembourg, which amounts to 0.05% of the net asset value of the fund. This tax is included in the net asset value of the fund. The fund can in principle use the Luxembourg treaty network to partially recover any withholding tax on its income.

The fiscal consequences of investing in this fund depend on the investor's personal situation. For private investors in the Netherlands real interest and dividend income or capital gains received on their investments are not relevant for tax purposes. Each year investors pay income tax on the value of their net assets as at 1 January if and inasmuch as such net assets exceed the investor’s tax-free allowance. Any amount invested in the fund forms part of the investor's net assets. Private investors who are resident outside the Netherlands will not be taxed in the Netherlands on their investments in the fund. However, such investors may be taxed in their country of residence on any income from an investment in this fund based on the applicable national fiscal laws. Other fiscal rules apply to legal entities or professional investors. We advise investors to consult their financial or tax adviser about the tax consequences of an investment in this fund in their specific circumstances before deciding to invest in the fund.

The fund incorporates sustainability in the investment process through exclusions, ESG integration, engagement and voting. The fund does not invest in issuers that are in breach of international norms or where activities have been deemed detrimental to society following Robeco's exclusion policy. Financially material ESG factors are integrated in the bottom-up investment analysis to assess existing and potential ESG risks and opportunities. In the stock selection the fund limits exposure to elevated sustainability risks. In addition, where a stock issuer is flagged for breaching international standards in the ongoing monitoring, the issuer will become subject to engagement. Lastly, the fund makes use of shareholder rights and applies proxy voting in accordance with Robeco's proxy voting policy.For more information please visit the sustainability-related disclosures.The index used for all sustainability visuals is based on MSCI All Country World Index (Net Return, EUR).

Markets initially fluctuated but gained momentum ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th US President on January 20th. However, in the final week, DeepSeek's release of a low-cost AI model shook markets, wiping out over USD 1 trillion in value. AI-linked stocks, particularly semiconductors and data center suppliers, saw double-digit declines, with NVIDIA dropping 16%. Visa and Mastercard reported strong results, with global payment volume growth contributing to higher revenues. However, Mastercard faced earnings downgrades due to expenses. The sector's momentum continued with increased capital market activity, including strong returns for companies such as Robinhood, Nu Holdings, and Bajaj Finance. President Trump's supportive executive order for cryptocurrency and digital assets aided in Bitcoin's rise of 11% and Coinbase's increase of 17%.

Based on transaction prices, the fund's return was 6.38%. The FinTech fund started 2025 strong and had a higher return compared to the reference index, the MSCI AC World, in January. Investments in Financial Management (17% weight in the fund) made the best positive contribution to performance followed by Payments (42.2%) and Digital Assets (6.5%), while Data & Analytics (16.6%) made a neutral contribution. Financial Infrastructure (17.7%) was the only negative contributor to performance, though still with positive returns. Robinhood Markets, Nu Holdings, Coinbase, Interactive Brokers, SEA, Adyen, Shopify and Guidewire were the best performers while Tencent, Hundsun Technologies and Q2 Holdings were the main detractors. From an industry perspective, Capital Markets (Robinhood Markets, Coinbase, Interactive Brokers, Futu), Financial Services (Adyen, Block, PagSeguro, StoneCo, Corpay), Banks (Nu Holdings) and IT Services (Shopify, EPAM) contributed positively, while Interactive Media (Tencent) and Software (Hundsun Technologies, Q2 Holdings) were the worst relative industry contributors to performance.

FinTech continues to show strength into 2025, with key trends emerging: alternative payment methods, capital markets activity, and AI agents going mainstream. Alternative payment methods, such as digital wallets and buy-now-pay-later, are gaining share, with companies such as Adyen and PayPal leading the charge. Capital markets are heating up, with FinTech IPOs and private funding expected to surge. Klarna and Chime Financial have already submitted confidential filings for IPOs. AI agents are providing advanced financial infrastructure solutions, with companies such as nCino and Workday integrating AI into their operations. With the growth outlook intact, and valuations still very reasonable after a volatile 2024, we conclude by saying that FinTech is a better long-term investment opportunity in 2025 than at any time since we launched.