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Principal sources of information/No warranty

This document was produced by VP Bank AG using sources that are believed to be reliable. The principal sources of the information for this document were:

  • information published in domestic and foreign media and by wire services (e.g. Bloomberg, Thomson Datastream, Morningstar, etc.);
  • S&P Global Market Intelligence models based on credit risk and market indicators;
  • credit ratings (e.g. Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, Fitch);
  • statistics in the public domain.

Although the utmost care has been taken in producing this document, VP Bank AG does not warrant that its contents are complete, up-to-date or correct. In particular, the information in this document may not include all relevant information regarding financial instruments or their issuers. The information is considered to be correct as at the publication date stated in the document. It is possible that VP Bank AG and/or its subsidiaries have published in the past or will publish in the future documents that contain information that does not accord with that provided in this document. VP Bank AG and/or its subsidiaries are not obliged to provide recipients of this document with such documentation offering different information.

Suitability/Not an offer:

The information in this documentation does not constitute a personal recommendation to buy, hold or sell the financial instruments depicted, nor does it constitute legal, financial, accounting or tax advice, or any form of personal advice. In particular, the financial instruments discussed in this document may be unsuitable for an investor on the basis of his/her investment objective, time horizon, risk tolerance, risk capacity, financial situation or other personal circumstances or because of sales restrictions applying to a particular financial instrument. The information provided in this document is therefore in no way a substitute for individual advice by a specialist qualified in the matters referred to above or for perusal of the documents provided by the issuers and distributors of the financial instruments (e.g. issue prospectuses, term sheets). In particular, this document does not constitute an offer, a solicitation to make an offer or a public advertisement inviting participation in transactions involving the financial instruments described herein or an invitation to enter into any transaction. VP Bank AG and its subsidiaries expressly refuse to accept any liability for any detriment or loss allegedly incurred as a result of the information contained in this document.

Notes on risk:

The price and value of the investments mentioned in this document and the returns achieved on these investments may rise or fall. Investments denominated in foreign currencies are also exposed to exchange rate fluctuations. No assurance can be given to investors that they will recover the amounts that they invest. The past performance of an investment is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The same is true of performance forecasts. Any investment mentioned in this document may involve the following risks (this list should not be regarded as exhaustive): issuer (creditworthiness) risk, market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, currency risk, economic risk and political risk. Investments in emerging markets in particular are speculative and especially heavily exposed to such risks.

Proprietary business:

To the extent permitted by law, VP Bank AG and its subsidiaries and/or their governing officers and/or employees may participate in other financial transactions with the issuers of assets mentioned in this document. They may invest in these issuers or render services to them, acquire orders from them, hold positions in their assets or in options on those assets, carry out transactions in these positions, or have other substantial interests relating to the issuers of assets mentioned in this document. Such actions or situations may already have occurred in the past.

Core methods used in financial analysis:

VP Bank has adopted the following core methods in its financial analysis: Only securities that meet the minimum criteria of VP Bank’s sustainability approach can be selected; this applies to all product categories and investment classes. The equities selection list is based on a disciplined bottom-up selection process. The fields of environment, social and governance play a key role in stock selection, as do sustainable earnings and profitability growth. Our corporate bond selection relies on the models based on credit risk and market indicators employed by our best partner. Of these, liquid, tradeable bonds with an appealing relationship between risks and opportunities are selected. In the government bond segment, we provide a selection of consistently liquid bonds. Funds, including passive funds and ETFs, are selected via a multi-level filtering process that rates several dimensions of a fund.

A “Strong buy” or “Buy” rating reflects an expectation of above-average performance compared to the benchmark index. A financial instrument classed as “Hold” is expected to see similar development to the benchmark index, while “Sell” or “Strong sell” is based on a forecast of below-average performance.

Internal regulations and organisational measures to prevent conflicts of interest:

VP Bank AG and its subsidiaries have implemented a number of internal regulations and organisational measures to prevent potential conflicts of interest and to identify any such conflicts that exist. Extensive steps are taken to ensure that financial analyses are independent. Organisational measures include the organisational, hierarchical, physical and functional separation of financial analysis from securities trading (incl. proprietary trading), sales and the Loans department. No persons outside the Research unit may access a study until it has been published or the recommendation status has been adjusted.

The author’s compensation is not directly or indirectly linked to the preparation of the financial analysis. In the event that an analyst or someone close to them is subject to a conflict of interest, the analyst is no longer permitted to be involved in preparing financial analyses regarding the issuer in question. In particular, VP Bank Group employees must accept no privileges, gifts or other favours from the issuers under analysis which exceed the value of the standard occasional gifts. Analysts must comply with enhanced requirements regarding the financial instruments they recommend, with a trading restriction imposed during the in-depth analysis phase, for instance.

Internal regulations and organisational measures to prevent conflicts of interest

VP Bank AG and its subsidiaries have implemented a number of internal regulations and organisational measures to prevent potential conflicts of interest and to identify any such conflicts that exist.

Explanatory notes on conflicts of interest: Potential conflicts of interest are flagged up in the document by means of the following numbers appended to the issuer’s name: VP Bank AG and/or its subsidiaries,

  1.  hold more than a 5% equity interest in the issuer; 
  2. have significant financial interests in relation to the issuer;
  3. have within the past twelve months been involved in lead-managing a syndicate that issued the issuer’s financial instruments by way of public offering; 
  4. act as a market maker in the issuer’s financial instruments; 
  5. have within the past twelve months concluded an investment banking service agreement with issuers that have been the object of equity analysis (or whose equities have been the object of equity analysis) or received a service or an undertaking to provide a service under such an agreement;
  6. have concluded an agreement on the provision of equity analysis with issuers that have been the object of equity analysis (or whose equities have been the object of equity analysis).
Information to S&P Data

This may contain information obtained from third parties, including ratings from credit ratings agencies such as S&P Global Ratings. Reproduction and distribution of third party content in any form is prohibited except with the prior written permission of the related third party. Third party content providers do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or availability of any information, including ratings, and are not responsible for any errors or omissions (negligent or otherwise), regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such content. Third party content providers give no express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, any warranties or merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use. Third party content providers shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including lost income or profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of their content, including ratings. Credit ratings are statements of opinions and are not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold or sell securities. They do not address the suitability of securities or the suitability of securities for investment purposes, and should not be relied on as investment advice.

Information to S&P Data:

This may contain information obtained from third parties, including ratings from credit ratings agencies such as S&P Global Ratings. Reproduction and distribution of third party content in any form is prohibited except with the prior written permission of the related third party. Third party content providers do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness or availability of any information, including ratings, and are not responsible for any errors or omissions (negligent or otherwise), regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such content. Third party content providers give no express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use. Third party content providers shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary, compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses, legal fees, or losses (including lost income or profits and opportunity costs or losses caused by negligence) in connection with any use of their content, including ratings. Credit ratings are statements of opinions and are not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold or sell securities. They do not address the suitability of securities or the suitability of securities for investment purposes, and should not be relied on as investment advice.

Information to MSCI ESG data:

This report contains certain information (the “Information”) sourced from and/or ©MSCI ESG Research LLC, or its affiliates or information providers (the “ESG Parties”) and may have been used to calculate scores, ratings or other indicators. The Information may only be used for your internal use, may not be reproduced or redisseminated in any form and may not be used as a basis for or a component of any financial instruments or products or indices. Although they obtain information from sources they considerreliable, none of the ESG Parties warrants or guarantees the originality, accuracy and/or completeness, of any data herein and expressly disclaim all express or implied warranties, including those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. None of the Information is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such, nor should it be taken as an indication or guarantee of any future performance, analysis, forecast or prediction. None of the ESG Parties shall have any liability for any errors or omissions in connection with any data or Information herein, or any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.”

Notes on the distribution of this document:

Access to the information contained or financial instruments described in this document may be restricted by national law. Accordingly, the information contained or financial instruments described in this document are not intended for persons or corporations subject to any jurisdiction in which access to the information contained herein or acquisition of the financial instruments described in this document is prohibited or made conditional on official approval (whether on account of the nationality of the persons concerned, their place of residence or any other reason). Persons who come into possession of this document or wish to acquire any financial instrument described herein must therefore acquaint themselves with local laws and restrictions and abide by them. The contents of this document are protected by copyright, and any utilisation other than private use requires the prior consent of VP Bank AG.

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