Royal London BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund

The RL BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund invests in developed world equities and is managed on a passive, indexed basis. It is designed to reflect the return of the developed world equity markets rather than to try to outperform them. The fund’s holdings are concentrated in large global companies such as NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

The RL BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund is aimed at investors with a medium to long-term horizon, specifically at least 7 years. It has high equity exposure, so its value is expected to be more volatile over shorter periods. In plain language, that means the fund’s price can rise and fall quite sharply before it has time to recover.

The RL BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund is spread across developed markets, with the United States the largest geographic exposure and positions also in Japan, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia. Sector exposure includes Information Technology, Financials, Industrials and Health Care, among others. This broad spread means the fund is not focused on just one country or one industry.

The main risks for the RL BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund include market fluctuations, capital returns, currency risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk and sustainability risks. Currency risk means changes in exchange rates can affect returns when the fund holds investments in overseas markets. As a developed world equity fund, it can also fall in value when equity markets decline.

The RL BlackRock Developed World Equity Index Fund is run by BlackRock through the underlying iShares Developed World Index Fund (IE). It aims to track the MSCI World Index Net EUR, so the fund follows an index rather than relying on active stock-picking. This makes it a straightforward way to gain broad exposure to developed world shares.