Summary Prospectus |
• | BlackRock Short-Term Municipal Fund |
Investor A: MELMX • Investor C: MFLMX • Institutional: MALMX |
Shareholder
Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) |
Investor
A Shares |
Investor
C Shares |
Institutional
Shares |
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as percentage of offering price) | 3.00% | None | None |
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as percentage of offering price or redemption proceeds, whichever is lower) | None 1 | 1.00% 2 | None |
Annual
Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment) |
Investor
A Shares |
Investor
C Shares |
Institutional
Shares |
Management Fee3 | 0.29% | 0.29% | 0.29% |
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees | 0.25% | 1.00% | None |
Other Expenses | 0.09% | 0.13% | 0.15% |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses | 0.63% | 1.42% | 0.44% |
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements3,4 | (0.02)% | (0.06)% | (0.08)% |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements3,4 | 0.61% | 1.36% | 0.36% |
1 | A contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) of 0.25% is assessed on certain redemptions of Investor A Shares made within 9 months after purchase where no initial sales charge was paid at the time of purchase as part of an investment of $250,000 or more. |
2 | There is no CDSC on Investor C Shares after one year. |
3 | As described in the “Management of the Funds” section of the Fund’s prospectus beginning on page 61, BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive the management fee with respect to any portion of the Fund’s assets estimated to be attributable to investments in other equity and fixed-income mutual funds and exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock or its affiliates that have a contractual management fee, through June 30, 2024. In addition, BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive its management fees by the amount of investment advisory fees the Fund pays to BlackRock indirectly through its investment in money market funds managed by BlackRock or its affiliates, through June 30, 2024. The contractual agreements may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the non-interested directors of BlackRock Municipal Bond Fund, Inc. (the “Corporation”) or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. |
4 | As described in the “Management of the Funds” section of the Fund’s prospectus beginning on page 61, BlackRock has contractually agreed to waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses After Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements (excluding Dividend Expense, Interest Expense, Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses and certain other Fund expenses) to 0.61% (for Investor A Shares), 1.36% (for Investor C Shares) and 0.36% (for Institutional Shares) of average daily net assets through June 30, 2024. The contractual agreement may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the non-interested directors of the Corporation or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
Investor A Shares | $360 | $494 | $639 | $1,061 |
Investor C Shares | $238 | $443 | $771 | $1,481 |
Institutional Shares | $ 37 | $133 | $238 | $ 547 |
1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
Investor C Shares | $138 | $443 | $771 | $1,481 |
■ | Debt Securities Risk — Debt securities, such as bonds, involve interest rate risk, credit risk, extension risk, and prepayment risk, among other things. |
Interest Rate Risk — The market value of bonds and other fixed-income securities changes in response to interest rate changes and other factors. Interest rate risk is the risk that prices of bonds and other fixed-income securities will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. | |
The Fund may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates due to the recent period of historically low interest rates. For example, if interest rates increase by 1%, assuming a current portfolio duration of ten years, and all other factors being equal, the value of the Fund’s investments would be expected to decrease by 10%. (Duration is a |
measure of the price sensitivity of a debt security or portfolio of debt securities to relative changes in interest rates.) The magnitude of these fluctuations in the market price of bonds and other fixed-income securities is generally greater for those securities with longer maturities. Fluctuations in the market price of the Fund’s investments will not affect interest income derived from instruments already owned by the Fund, but will be reflected in the Fund’s net asset value. The Fund may lose money if short-term or long-term interest rates rise sharply in a manner not anticipated by Fund management. | |
To the extent the Fund invests in debt securities that may be prepaid at the option of the obligor (such as mortgage-backed securities), the sensitivity of such securities to changes in interest rates may increase (to the detriment of the Fund) when interest rates rise. Moreover, because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. | |
These basic principles of bond prices also apply to U.S. Government securities. A security backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. Government is guaranteed only as to its stated interest rate and face value at maturity, not its current market price. Just like other fixed-income securities, government-guaranteed securities will fluctuate in value when interest rates change. | |
A general rise in interest rates has the potential to cause investors to move out of fixed-income securities on a large scale, which may increase redemptions from funds that hold large amounts of fixed-income securities. Heavy redemptions could cause the Fund to sell assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value and could hurt the Fund’s performance. | |
Credit Risk — Credit risk refers to the possibility that the issuer of a debt security (i.e., the borrower) will not be able to make payments of interest and principal when due. Changes in an issuer’s credit rating or the market’s perception of an issuer’s creditworthiness may also affect the value of the Fund’s investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on both the financial condition of the issuer and the terms of the obligation. | |
Extension Risk — When interest rates rise, certain obligations will be paid off by the obligor more slowly than anticipated, causing the value of these obligations to fall. | |
Prepayment Risk — When interest rates fall, certain obligations will be paid off by the obligor more quickly than originally anticipated, and the Fund may have to invest the proceeds in securities with lower yields. | |
■ | Municipal Securities Risks — Municipal securities risks include the ability of the issuer to repay the obligation, the relative lack of information about certain issuers of municipal securities, and the possibility of future legislative changes which could affect the market for and value of municipal securities. These risks include: |
General Obligation Bonds Risks — Timely payments depend on the issuer’s credit quality, ability to raise tax revenues and ability to maintain an adequate tax base. | |
Revenue Bonds Risks — These payments depend on the money earned by the particular facility or class of facilities, or the amount of revenues derived from another source. | |
Private Activity Bonds Risks — Municipalities and other public authorities issue private activity bonds to finance development of industrial facilities for use by a private enterprise. The private enterprise pays the principal and interest on the bond, and the issuer does not pledge its full faith, credit and taxing power for repayment. | |
Moral Obligation Bonds Risks — Moral obligation bonds are generally issued by special purpose public authorities of a state or municipality. If the issuer is unable to meet its obligations, repayment of these bonds becomes a moral commitment, but not a legal obligation, of the state or municipality. | |
Municipal Notes Risks — Municipal notes are shorter term municipal debt obligations. If there is a shortfall in the anticipated proceeds, the notes may not be fully repaid and the Fund may lose money. | |
Municipal Lease Obligations Risks — In a municipal lease obligation, the issuer agrees to make payments when due on the lease obligation. Although the issuer does not pledge its unlimited taxing power for payment of the lease obligation, the lease obligation is secured by the leased property. | |
Tax-Exempt Status Risk — The Fund and its investment manager will rely on the opinion of issuers’ bond counsel and, in the case of derivative securities, sponsors’ counsel, on the tax-exempt status of interest on municipal bonds and payments under derivative securities. Neither the Fund nor its investment manager will independently review the bases for those tax opinions, which may ultimately be determined to be incorrect and subject the Fund and its shareholders to substantial tax liabilities. | |
■ | Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that |
are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues like pandemics or epidemics, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money. | |
An outbreak of an infectious coronavirus (COVID-19) that was first detected in December 2019 developed into a global pandemic that has resulted in numerous disruptions in the market and has had significant economic impact leaving general concern and uncertainty. Although vaccines have been developed and approved for use by various governments, the duration of the pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty. The impact of this coronavirus, and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, could affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the market in general ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time. | |
■ | High Portfolio Turnover Risk — The Fund may engage in active and frequent trading of its portfolio securities. High portfolio turnover (more than 100%) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities. The sale of Fund portfolio securities may result in the realization and/or distribution to shareholders of higher capital gains or losses as compared to a fund with less active trading policies. These effects of higher than normal portfolio turnover may adversely affect Fund performance. |
■ | Illiquid Investments Risk — The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund’s liquidity risk management program. The Fund’s illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because it may be difficult to sell the illiquid investments at an advantageous time or price. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund’s holdings. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in fixed-income securities or the lack of an active trading market. To the extent that the Fund’s principal investment strategies involve derivatives or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have the greatest exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets, and if the Fund is forced to sell these investments to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where investor redemptions from fixed-income mutual funds may be higher than normal. In addition, when there is illiquidity in the market for certain securities, the Fund, due to limitations on illiquid investments, may be subject to purchase and sale restrictions. |
■ | Leverage Risk — Some transactions may give rise to a form of economic leverage. These transactions may include, among others, derivatives, and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The use of leverage may cause the Fund to liquidate portfolio positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations or to meet the applicable requirements of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), and the rules thereunder. Increases and decreases in the value of the Fund’s portfolio will be magnified when the Fund uses leverage. |
■ | Variable Rate Demand Obligations Risks — Variable rate demand obligations are floating rate securities that combine an interest in a long-term municipal bond with a right to demand payment before maturity from a bank or other financial institution. If the bank or financial institution is unable to pay, the Fund may lose money. |
For
the periods ended 12/31/21 Average Annual Total Returns |
1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years |
BlackRock Short-Term Municipal Fund — Institutional Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (0.03)% | 1.20% | 0.78% |
Return After Taxes on Distributions | (0.03)% | 1.20% | 0.77% |
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares | 0.21% | 1.18% | 0.79% |
BlackRock Short-Term Municipal Fund — Investor A Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (3.25)% | 0.37% | 0.22% |
BlackRock Short-Term Municipal Fund — Investor C Shares | |||
Return Before Taxes | (2.00)% | 0.22% | (0.09)% |
Bloomberg
Municipal 1-5 Year Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
0.36% | 2.04% | 1.56% |
Short-Term
Customized Reference Benchmark (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
0.32% | 1.63% | — 1 |
1 | The Short-Term Customized Reference Benchmark commenced in September 2016 and therefore the Short-Term Customized Reference Benchmark does not have 10-year returns. |
Name | Portfolio
Manager of the Fund Since |
Title |
Kevin A. Schiatta, CFA | 2016 | Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
Kristi Manidis | 2019 | Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
Christian Romaglino, CFA | 2021 | Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
Investor A and Investor C Shares | Institutional Shares | |
Minimum
Initial Investment |
$1,000
for all accounts except: • $50, if establishing an Automatic Investment Plan. • There is no investment minimum for employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs). • There is no investment minimum for certain fee-based programs. |
There
is no minimum initial investment for: • Employer-sponsored retirement plans (not including SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs or SARSEPs), state sponsored 529 college savings plans, collective trust funds, investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles, unaffiliated thrifts and unaffiliated banks and trust companies, each of which may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Fund’s distributor to purchase such shares. • Clients of Financial Intermediaries that: (i) charge such clients a fee for advisory, investment consulting, or similar services or (ii) have entered into an agreement with the Fund’s distributor to offer Institutional Shares through a no-load program or investment platform. • Clients investing through a self-directed IRA brokerage account program sponsored by a retirement plan record-keeper, provided that such program offers only mutual fund options and that the program maintains an account with the Fund on an omnibus basis.$2 million for individuals and “Institutional Investors,” which include, but are not limited to, endowments, foundations, family offices, local, city, and state governmental institutions, corporations and insurance company separate accounts who may purchase shares of the Fund through a Financial Intermediary that has entered into an agreement with the Fund’s distributor to purchase such shares.$1,000 for: • Clients investing through Financial Intermediaries that offer such shares on a platform that charges a transaction based sales commission outside of the Fund. • Tax-qualified accounts for insurance agents that are registered representatives of an insurance company’s broker-dealer that has entered into an agreement with the Fund’s distributor to offer Institutional Shares, and the family members of such persons. |
Minimum
Additional Investment |
$50 for all accounts (with the exception of certain employer-sponsored retirement plans which may have a lower minimum). | No subsequent minimum. |
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