Announcements March 31, 2022

Methodology Change | Solactive ERSTE DM Equity ESG Base Index | Effective Date 07/04/2022

Today, on 31/03/2022, Solactive announces the following changes to the methodology of the following Indices (the ‘Affected Indices’):

NAME	RIC	ISIN
Solactive ERSTE DM Equity ESG Base Index PR	.SOLERDMP	DE000SL0A9K3
Solactive ERSTE DM Equity ESG Base Index NTR	.SOLERDMN	DE000SL0A9L1
Solactive ERSTE DM Equity ESG Base Index TR	.SOLERDMT	DE000SL0A9M9

Rationale for Methodology Change

Solactive has determined that the current methodology does no longer reflect the current market best practices regarding ESG screening criteria. Hence, the modified selection criteria will extend beyond the exclusion of companies involved in coal mining and weaponry to a broader and more stringent set of criteria. The change is reflected in sections 1.1; 2.1; and 6 of the index Guideline of the Affected Indices.

Changes to the Index Guideline

The following Methodology changes will be implemented in the following points of the Index Guideline (ordered in accordance with the numbering of the affected sections):

The wording in Section 1.1 of the index guideline is replaced by the following wording:

Category	Description
Asset Class	Equity
Strategy	Representation of 120 largest securities from developed markets which are screened according to several ESG criteria and minimum tracking error to the benchmark
Regional Allocation	Developed Markets
Rebalancing Frequency	Semi-annually

The wording in Section 2.1 of the index guideline is replaced by the following wording:

The INDEX UNIVERSE is comprised of all financial instruments which fulfill the below requirements

(the “INDEX UNIVERSE REQUIREMENTS“):

-Part/Component of the GBS INDEX UNIVERSE of the Solactive GBS Developed Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index PR (ISIN: DE000SLA41B6), on a SELECTION DAY

-Part/Component of the whitelist as determined and provided by the DATA PROVIDER. The whitelist contains companies of the Solactive GBS Developed Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index screened according to several ESG criteria as detailed in section 6- Table 1.

The wording in Section 6 of the index guideline is replaced by the following wording:

Average Daily Value Traded” means, in respect of an Index Component, the sum of Daily Value Traded over the specified period divided by the number of Trading Days that fall in the specified period.

“Benchmark Regulation” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“BMR” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“Business Day” is every weekday from Monday to Friday.

“Calculation Day” is every weekday from Monday to Friday.

“Close of Business” is the calculation time of the closing level of the Index as outlined in Section 1.4.

The “Closing Price” in respect of an Index Component and a Trading Day is a security’s final regular-hours Trading Price published by the Exchange and determined in accordance with the Exchange regulations. If the Exchange has no or has not published a Closing Price in accordance with the Exchange rules for an Index Component, the last Trading Price will be used.

“Daily Value Traded” means, in respect of an Index Component and a Trading Day, the product of (i) the Closing Price of such Index Component and (ii) the volume traded (measured as a number of shares) of such Index Component on the Exchange during such Trading Day.

“Data Provider” is Erste Asset Management which provides a whitelist that contains companies of the Solactive GBS Developed Markets Large & Mid Cap USD Index screened according to several ESG criteria as detailed in section 6- Table 1.

“Eligible Rebalance Day” is each day that is a Trading Day at the New York Stock Exchange, the London Stock Exchange, the EUREX Exchange, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

“Exchange” is with respect to the Index and every Index Component, the respective exchange where the Index Component has its listing as determined in accordance with the rules in Section 2.

The “Free Float” is with regard to each of the securities fulfilling the Index Component Requirements on a Selection Day the share class-specific fraction of the total number of shares of such share class issued that are available for trading by market participants and not locked in by long term holders, as sourced from data vendors.

The “Free Float Market Capitalization” is with regard to each of the securities fulfilling the Index Component Requirements on a Selection Day the share class-specific free-float market capitalization. It is calculated as the multiplication of the shares outstanding in Free Float (as sourced from data vendors) with the Closing Price of the share class as of the respective Selection Day.

“Fixing Day” is the Selection Day.

“Gbs Index Universe” is the INDEX UNIVERSE as defined in the guideline of the SOLACTIVE Global Benchmark Series (https://solactive.com/downloads/Guideline-Solactive-GBS-Benchmark-Series.pdf) for the GBS Index specified in Section 2.1.

“Guideline” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“Index” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“Index Administrator” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“Index Component” is each security reflected in the Index.

“Index Component Requirements” shall have the meaning as defined in Section 2.2.

“Index Currency” is the currency specified in the column “Currency” in the table in Section 1.2.

“Index Universe Requirements” shall have the meaning as defined in Section 2.1.

“Index Universe” is the sum of all financial instruments which fulfill the Index Universe Requirements.

“Live Date” shall have the meaning as defined in Section 1.3.

“Oversight Committee” shall have the meaning as defined in Section 5.5.

“Rebalance Day” is the first Wednesday in May, and November. If that day is not an Eligible Rebalance Day the Rebalance Day will be the immediately following Eligible Rebalance Day.

“Selection Day” is 20 Business Days (Monday to Friday) before the Rebalance Day.

“Solactive” shall have the meaning as defined in Section “Introduction”.

“Start Date” shall have the meaning as defined in Section 1.3.

Trading Day” is with respect to an Index Component included in the Index at the Rebalance Day and every Index Component included in the Index at the Calculation Day immediately following the Rebalance Day (for clarification: this provision is intended to capture the Trading Days for the securities to be included in the Index as new Index Components with close of trading on the relevant Exchange on the Rebalance Day) a day on which the relevant Exchange is open for trading (or a day that would have been such a day if a market disruption had not occurred), excluding days on which trading may be ceased prior to the scheduled Exchange closing time and days on which the Exchange is open for a scheduled shortened period. The Index Administrator is ultimately responsible as to whether a certain day is a Trading Day.

The “Trading Price” in respect of an Index Component and a Trading Day is the most recent published price at which the Index Component was traded on the respective Exchange.

“Table 1” As defined in the below table:

Category	Sub-category	Description	Exclusion threshold
Mining	Producers of nuclear power	Involvement	>0%
	Producers and traders of uranium	Involvement	>0%
	Producers of key components for nuclear power stations	Revenues	>5%
	Traders of key components for nuclear power stations	Revenues	>5%
Pornography	Producers of pornography	Involvement	>0%
	Trader of pornography	Revenues	>10%
Tobacco	Producers of end products	Involvement	>0%
UN Global Compact	Companies that fail to comply with the principlesof the United Nations Global Compact	Involvement	>0%
Animal Testing	Beyong legal requirements	Involvement	>0%
Arms / weapons	Producers and traders of weapons, weapon systems, controversial weapons, i.e., nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, cluster munitions, anti-personnel mines, uranium ammunition	Involvement	>0%
	Production and/or provision of Military Equipment and Services (combat involvement)	Involvement	>0%
	Top arms-producing & military services companies in the world (SIPRI)	Involvement	>0%
	Production and/or provision of Military Equipment and Services (non-combat Involvement)	Revenues	>5%
Banks and financial services	Systematic violations of accepted business practices	Involvement	>0%
Business malpractice	Accounting fraud and corruption: non-compliance with legal requirements	Involvement	>0%
Child labour	Exclusion of worst forms of child labour	Involvement	>0%
Coal	Coal mining and coal liquefaction	Revenues	>5%
	Power generation from coal	Revenues	>5%
Crude oil / natural gas	Producers and processors – production of crude oil and natural gas by conventional methods	Revenues	>5%
	Producers and processors – production of crude oil and natural gas by non-conventional methods (fracking, oil sands)	Revenues	>5%
	Refining of crude oil	Revenues	>5%
	High share of non-conventional reserves in total reserves	Reserves	>20%
	Power generation from crude oil	Revenues	>5%
Embryonic research	Specialized companies	Involvement	>0%
Food commodities speculation	Use of derivatives on food commodities to generate a speculative profit in the mutual fund	Involvement	>0%
Fraud and corruption	Disregard of legal regulations	Involvement	>0%
Gambling	Operators and specialized manufacturers	Revenues	>5%
	Providers of gambling with addictive potential with effective measures to prevent social and financial threats to existence	Revenues	>5%
	Providers of gambling with addictive potential with effective measures to prevent social and financial threats to existence	Revenues	>5%
GMO	Producers of manipulated seed	Involvement	>0%
	Production of genetically modified plants / animals for agricultural use	Involvement	>0%
Violation of human rights	Disregard of generally accepted norms, principles and standards for the protection of human rights, e.g., the International Bill of Human Rights, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights	Involvement	>0%
Violation of labour rights	Disregard of generally accepted norms, principles and standards for the protection of workers, e.g., the core principles of the ILO, i.e., freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, forced labour, discrimination, and other aspects for companies and suppliers/sub-contractors	Involvement	>0%
Authoritarian regime	Classification by „Freedom House“ not free	Involvement	>0%
Biodiversity	Non-Ratification of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CoBD)	Involvement	>0%
Child labour	Countries with widespread employment of children	Involvement	>0%
Climate protection	Non-ratification of the paris convention	Involvement	>0%
Corruption	Countries scoring lower than 50 points in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI)	Corruption Perception Index (CPI)	<50
Death penalty	Death penalty not completely abolished	Involvement	>0%
Discrimination	Massive restriction of the legal and/or social equality of women, people with disabilities or ethnic minorities	Involvement	>0%
Freedom of association	Countries with severe restrictions regarding the possibility of free assembly and of trade union organisation	Involvement	>0%
Freedom of press and freedom of expression	Countries with severe restrictions	Involvement	>0%
Human rights	Countries with severe restrictions with regard to, e.g., privacy, freedom of movement, freedom of religion or torture	Involvement	>0%
Labour rights	Countries with particularly poor conditions regarding, e.g., minimum wages, working hours, health and safety	Involvement	>0%
Military expenses	Countries with particularly high military budget (military expenditure / GDP)	Expenses	>3%
Money laundering	Non-implementation / gross violations of FATF standards	Involvement	>0%
Nuclear energy	Ratio of primary energy production (3-yr-average)	Involvement	>40%
Nuclear weapons	Countries that possess nuclear weapons according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) or countries that have not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons	Involvement	>0%

Defined terms used in this announcement, but not defined herein, have the meaning assigned to them in the respective index guideline of the Affected Indices. The amended version of the index guideline will be available on the effective date.