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Boston Partners Institutional | Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Fund
SUMMARY SECTION — BOSTON PARTNERS EMERGING MARKETS LONG/SHORT FUND
Investment Objective

The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital.

Expenses and Fees

This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell Institutional Class shares of the Fund. You may be required to pay commissions and/or other forms of compensation to a broker for transactions in Institutional Class shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in the tables or the examples below.

 Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
Annual Fund Operating Expenses
Boston Partners Institutional Class
Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Fund
Institutional Class
Management Fees 1.50%
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees none
Other Expenses 0.59%
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses 0.06% [1]
Dividend expense on short sales none
Interest expense on borrowings none
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses 2.15%
Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements (0.65%) [2]
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waivers and/or Expense Reimbursements 1.50%
[1] Prior to October 1, 2019, the management fee was 1.85%.
[2] Acquired fund fees and expenses are indirect fees and expenses that the Fund incurs from investing in the shares of other mutual funds, including money market funds and exchange-traded funds. Please note that the amount of Total annual Fund operating expenses and Total annual Fund operating expenses after fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement shown in the above table will differ from the "Financial Highlights" section of the prospectus, which reflects the operating expenses of the Fund and does not include indirect expenses such as acquired fund fees and expenses.
Example

This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $100,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and that you sell all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the operating expenses of the Fund remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Expense Example
One Year
Three Years
Five Years
Ten Years
Boston Partners Institutional Class | Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Fund | Institutional Class | USD ($) 1,526 6,104 10,947 24,315
Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in Total annual Fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the fiscal year ended August 31, 2019, the portfolio turnover rate for the Fund was 186% of the average value of its portfolio.

Summary of Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund will pursue its objective through investing in a non-diversified, multi-strategy long-short portfolio of equity securities and financial investments with equity like characteristics designed to provide exposure to emerging markets. Securities are selected by the Adviser using its "three circles" approach which combines a quantitative screening with a fundamental bottom up selection process. This investment strategy is grounded in the following principles: (1) low valuation stocks outperform high valuation stocks; (2) companies with strong fundamentals, e.g. high and sustainable returns on invested capital, outperform companies with weak fundamentals; and (3) stocks with positive business momentum, e.g. rising earnings estimates, outperform stocks with negative business momentum. With a long position, the Fund purchases a stock outright; with a short position, the Fund sells a security that it does not own and must borrow to meet its settlement obligations. The Adviser examines various factors in determining the value characteristics of issuers, including price-to-book value ratios and price-to-earnings ratios. These value characteristics are examined in the context of the issuer's operating and financial fundamentals, such as return-on-equity and earnings growth and cash flow.

 

The Fund intends, under normal circumstances, to invest at least 80% of its net assets (including borrowings for investment purposes) in the securities of emerging market issuers, related derivative instruments and other investments that are tied economically to emerging market countries. The Adviser considers an emerging market country to include any country that is: 1) generally recognized to be an emerging market country by the international financial community, including the World Bank; 2) classified by the United Nations as a developing country; or 3) included in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Due to the unique relationship between China and its separately administered regions, the Adviser includes Hong Kong and Macau as emerging markets, independent of above definitions 1 through 3. The Adviser determines that an investment is tied economically to an emerging market if such investment satisfies one or more of the following conditions: 1) the issuer's primary trading market is in an emerging market; 2) the issuer is organized under the laws of, derives at least 50% of its revenue from, or has at least 50% of its assets in emerging markets; 3) the investment is included in an index representative of emerging markets; and 4) the investment is exposed to the economic risks and returns of emerging markets.

 

In managing the Fund's portfolio, the Adviser will seek to identify mispriced publicly traded equity securities of emerging market companies including shorting securities that the Adviser believes will underperform and purchasing securities that the Adviser believes will outperform.

 

The long portion of the portfolio will emphasize low valuation, positive business momentum and high quality securities. The short portfolio will emphasize securities with high valuation risk, high balance sheet risk and signs of slowing sales and earnings momentum.

 

The Fund's portfolio is rebalanced regularly to maintain the optimal risk/return trade-off. The Adviser assesses each stock's changing characteristics relative to its contribution to portfolio risk. The Adviser will sell a stock held long or close out a short position in a stock that the Adviser believes no longer offers an appropriate return-to-risk tradeoff.

 

The equity securities in which the Fund will invest include equity securities issued by large-, mid- and small- or micro-cap companies, as well as exchange-traded and over-the-counter common and preferred stocks, warrants, options, rights, convertible securities, sponsored and unsponsored depositary receipts and shares, trust certificates, limited partnership interests, shares of other investment companies (including exchanged-traded funds ("ETFs")), real estate investment trusts ("REITs") and equity participations. An equity participation is a type of loan that gives the lender a portion of equity ownership in a property, in addition to principal and interest payments. A convertible security is a bond, debenture, note, preferred stock or other security that may be converted into or exchanged for a prescribed amount of common stock of the same or a different issuer within a particular period of time at a specified price or formula. The Fund may invest in securities of companies operating for three years or less ("unseasoned issuers").

 

The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in high yield debt obligations, such as bonds and debentures, used by corporations and other business organizations (e.g. trusts or limited liability companies). Such high yield debt obligations are not considered to be investment grade. Non-investment grade fixed income securities (commonly known as "junk bonds") are rated BB or lower by S&P Global, or have a comparable rating by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (or, if unrated are determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality at the time of investment). The Fund may invest in securities of the lowest rating category, including securities in default. The Adviser may, but is not required to, sell a bond or note held by the Fund in the event that its credit rating is downgraded. The Fund will primarily invest in fixed income instruments, including high yield fixed income obligations, when the Fund believes that such instruments offer a better risk/reward profile than comparable equity opportunities.

 

Under normal circumstances, the Adviser expects that the Fund's long positions will not exceed approximately 50% of the Fund's net assets with a typical range of 30% to 70% net long.

 

The Fund's long and short positions may involve (without limit) equity securities of non-U.S. issuers that are traded in the markets of the United States.

 

In addition to the short sales discussed above, the Fund may make short sales "against the box," a transaction in which the Fund enters into a short sale of a security which the Fund owns. The proceeds of the short sale will be held by a broker until the settlement date at which time the Fund delivers the security to close the short position. The Fund receives the net proceeds from the short sale. It is currently expected that the majority of the Fund's short sales will not be against the box.

 

To meet margin requirements, redemptions or pending investments, the Fund may also temporarily hold a portion of its assets in full faith and credit obligations of the United States government and in short-term notes, commercial paper or other money market instruments.

 

The Fund is the sole shareholder of Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Offshore Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). Generally, the Subsidiary invests primarily in futures contracts traded on Indian stock exchanges. The Fund and its Subsidiary comply with the same fundamental investment restrictions on an aggregate basis, to the extent those restrictions are applicable to the investment activities of the Subsidiary. The Fund is the sole shareholder of its Subsidiary and does not expect shares of its Subsidiary to be offered or sold to other investors. An election has been made to cause the Subsidiary to be a disregarded entity for U.S. federal income tax purposes; accordingly, the assets and income of the Subsidiary will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes no differently from the other assets and income of the Fund.

 

The Adviser will sell a stock when it no longer meets one or more investment criteria, either through obtaining target value or due to an adverse change in fundamentals or business momentum. Each holding has a target valuation established at purchase, which the Adviser constantly monitors and adjusts as appropriate.

 

In general, the Fund's investments will be spread over a number of industries and, as a matter of policy, the Fund is limited to investing less than 25% of its total assets in any one industry, except that the Fund may invest in exchange traded funds to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended ("1940 Act"), and applicable SEC orders.

 

The Fund may participate as a purchaser in initial public offerings of securities ("IPOs"). An IPO is a company's first offering of stock to the public.

 

The Fund may invest up to 15% of its net assets in illiquid securities, including securities that are illiquid by virtue of the absence of a readily available market or legal or contractual restrictions on resale.

 

The Fund may also seek to increase its income by lending portfolio securities.

 

The Fund will invest in derivatives, including put and call options, futures, contracts for differences, forward contracts and swaps, in lieu of investing directly in a security, currency or instrument, for hedging and non-hedging purposes. Contracts for differences offer exposure to price changes in an underlying security without ownership of such security, typically by providing investors the ability to trade on margin. The Fund's investments in derivative instruments may be leveraged and result in losses exceeding the amounts invested.

 

While the Adviser intends to fully invest the Fund's assets at all times in accordance with the above-mentioned policies, the Fund reserves the right to hold up to 100% of its assets, as a temporary defensive measure, in cash and eligible U.S. dollar-denominated money market instruments and make investments inconsistent with its investment objective. The Adviser will determine when market conditions warrant temporary defensive measures.

Summary of Principal Risks

Risk is inherent in all investing. The value of your investment in the Fund, as well as the amount of return you receive on your investment, may fluctuate significantly from day to day and over time. You may lose part or all of your investment in the Fund or your investment may not perform as well as other similar investments. The Fund's principal risks are presented in alphabetical order to facilitate finding particular risks and comparing them with other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a "principal risk" of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.  Different risks may be more significant at different times depending on market conditions or other factors.

 

Convertible Securities Risk. Securities that can be converted into common stock, such as certain securities and preferred stock, are subject to the usual risks associated with fixed income investments, such as interest rate risk and credit risk. In addition, because they react to changes in the value of the equity securities into which they will convert, convertible securities are also subject to the risks associated with equity securities.

 

Currency Risk. Investment in foreign securities also involves currency risk associated with securities that trade or are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and which may be affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates. An increase in the strength of the U.S. dollar relative to a foreign currency may cause the U.S. dollar value of an investment in that country to decline. Foreign currencies also are subject to risks caused by inflation, interest rates, budget deficits and low savings rates, political factors and government controls.

 

Cyber Security Risk. Cyber security risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, Fund or customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, the investment adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor and other service providers and financial intermediaries to suffer data breaches, data corruption or lose operational functionality or prevent Fund investors from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions. The Fund and its investment adviser have limited ability to prevent or mitigate cyber security incidents affecting third-party service providers. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact and cause financial losses to the Fund or its shareholders.

 

Derivatives Risk. The Fund's investments in derivative instruments, which include futures and options on securities, securities indices or currencies, options on these futures, contracts for differences, forward foreign currency contracts and interest rate or currency swaps, may be leveraged and result in losses exceeding the amounts invested.

 

Emerging Markets Risk. Investment in emerging market securities involves greater risk than that associated with investment in securities of issuers in developed foreign countries. These risks include volatile currency exchange rates, periods of high inflation, increased risk of default, greater social, economic and political uncertainty and instability, less governmental supervision and regulation of securities markets, weaker auditing and financial reporting standards, lack of liquidity in the markets, and the significantly smaller market capitalizations of emerging market issuers.

 

Exchange-Traded Fund Risk. Exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") are a type of investment company bought and sold on a securities exchange. An ETF typically represents a fixed portfolio of securities designed to track a particular market index. The risks of owning an ETF generally reflect the risks of owning the underlying securities that they are designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in its being more volatile. Some ETFs are actively-managed by an investment adviser and/or sub-advisers. Actively-managed ETFs are subject to the risk of poor investment selection. The Fund may incur brokerage fees in connection with its purchase of ETF shares. The purchase of shares of ETFs may result in duplication of expenses, including advisory fees, in addition to the Fund's own expenses. Certain ETFs may be thinly traded and experience large spreads between the "ask" price quoted by a seller and the "bid" price offered by a buyer.

 

Foreign Custody Risk. The Fund may hold foreign securities and cash with foreign banks, agents, and securities depositories appointed by the Fund's custodian (each a "Foreign Custodian"). Some Foreign Custodians may be recently organized or new to the foreign custody business. In some countries, Foreign Custodians may be subject to little or no regulatory oversight over or independent evaluation of their operations. Further, the laws of certain countries may place limitations on the Fund's ability to recover its assets if a Foreign Custodian enters bankruptcy. Investments in emerging markets may be subject to even greater custody risks than investments in more developed markets. Custody services in emerging market countries are very often undeveloped and may be considerably less well-regulated than in more developed countries, and thus may not afford the same level of investor protection as would apply in developed countries.

 

Foreign Securities Risk. International investing is subject to special risks, including, but not limited to, currency exchange rate volatility, political, social or economic instability, and differences in taxation, auditing and other financial practices.

 

High Yield Debt Obligations Risk. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in high yield debt obligations, such as bonds and debentures, issued by corporations and other business organizations. An issuer of debt obligations may default on its obligation to pay interest and repay principal. Also, changes in the financial strength of an issuer or changes in the credit rating of a security may affect its value. Such high yield debt obligations are referred to as "junk bonds" and are not considered to be investment grade.

 

Illiquid Securities Risk. Investing in illiquid securities is subject to certain risks, such as limitations on resale and uncertainty in determining valuation. Limitations on resale may adversely affect the marketability of portfolio securities and the Fund might be unable to dispose of restricted or other illiquid securities promptly or at reasonable prices and might thereby experience difficulty satisfying redemptions within seven days. The Fund might, in order to dispose of restricted securities, have to register securities resulting in additional expense and delay. Adverse market conditions could impede such a public offering of such securities. Less liquid securities that the Fund may want to invest in may be difficult or impossible to purchase. Federal banking regulations may also cause certain dealers to reduce their inventories of certain securities, which may further decrease the Fund's ability to buy or sell such securities.

 

IPO Risk. IPO risk is the risk that the market value of IPO shares will fluctuate considerably due to certain factors, such as the absence of a prior public market, unseasoned trading, the small number of shares available for trading and limited information about the issuer. The purchase of IPO shares may involve high transaction costs. IPO shares are subject to market risk and liquidity risk. When the Fund's asset base is small, a significant portion of the Fund's performance could be attributable to investments in IPOs, because such investments would have a magnified impact on the Fund. As the Fund's assets grow, the effect of the Fund's investments in IPOs on the Fund's performance probably will decline, which could reduce the Fund's performance. Because of the price volatility of IPO shares, the Fund may choose to hold IPO shares for a very short period of time. This may increase the turnover of the Fund's portfolio and may lead to increased expenses to the Fund, such as commissions and transaction costs. In addition, the Adviser cannot guarantee continued access to IPOs.

 

Management Risk. The Fund is subject to the risk of poor stock selection. The Adviser may not be successful in its strategy of taking long positions in securities the Adviser believes to be undervalued and short positions in securities the Adviser believes to be overvalued. Further, since the Adviser will manage both a long and a short portfolio, there is the risk that the Adviser may make more poor investment decisions than an adviser of a typical stock mutual fund with only a long portfolio may make. Investments the Fund makes may not perform as well as expected, and/or the Fund's portfolio management practices may not work to achieve their desired result.

 

Market Risk. The net asset value ("NAV") of the Fund will change with changes in the market value of its portfolio positions. Investors may lose money. Although the long portfolio of the Fund will invest in stocks the Adviser believes to be undervalued, there is no guarantee that the prices of these stocks will not move even lower.

 

Micro-Cap Companies Risk. Micro-cap stocks may be very sensitive to changing economic conditions and market downturns because the issuers often have narrow markets for their products or services, fewer product lines, and more limited managerial and financial resources than larger issuers. The stocks of micro-cap companies may therefore be more volatile and the ability to sell them at a desirable time or price may be more limited.

 

Mid-Cap Companies Risk. The stocks of mid-sized companies may be subject to more abrupt or erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies.

 

Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is non-diversified. Compared to other funds, the Fund may invest more of its assets in a smaller number of companies. Gains or losses on a single stock may have greater impact on the Fund.

 

Options Risk. An option is a type of derivative instrument that gives the holder the right (but not the obligation) to buy (a "call") or sell (a "put") an asset in the near future at an agreed upon price prior to the expiration date of the option. The Fund may "cover" a call option by owning the security underlying the option or through other means. The value of options can be highly volatile, and their use can result in loss if the Adviser is incorrect in its expectation of price fluctuations. Losses incurred by the Fund in writing options can be potentially unlimited.

 

Portfolio Turnover Risk. If the Fund frequently trades its portfolio securities, the Fund will incur higher brokerage commissions and transaction costs, which could lower the Fund's performance. In addition to lower performance, high portfolio turnover could result in taxable capital gains. A portfolio turnover rate of 100% is considered to be high. The annual portfolio turnover rate for the Fund is not expected to exceed 400%; however, it may be higher if the Adviser believes it will improve the Fund's performance.

 

REITs Risk. REITs may be affected by economic forces and other factors related to the real estate industry. These risks include possible declines in the value of real estate, possible lack of availability of mortgage funds and unexpected vacancies of properties. REITs are also subject to heavy cash flow dependency, defaults by borrowers, self-liquidation, interest rate risks (especially mortgage REITs) and liquidity risk. REITs that invest in real estate mortgages are also subject to prepayment risk. Investing in REITs may involve risks similar to those associated with investing in small capitalization companies. REITs may have limited financial resources, may trade less frequently and in a limited volume, engage in dilutive offerings and may be subject to more abrupt or erratic price movements than larger company securities. Historically, small capitalization stocks, such as REITs, have been more volatile in price than the larger capitalization stocks included in the S&P 500® Index. In addition, REITs could possibly fail to (i) qualify for favorable tax treatment under applicable tax law or (ii) maintain their exemptions from registration under the 1940 Act.

 

Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may lend portfolio securities to institutions, such as certain broker-dealers. The Fund may experience a loss or delay in the recovery of its securities if the borrowing institution breaches its agreement with the Fund.

 

Segregated Account Risk. A security held in a segregated account cannot be sold while the position it is covering is outstanding, unless it is replaced with a similar security. As a result, there is a possibility that segregation of a large percentage of the Fund's assets could impede portfolio management or the Fund's ability to meet redemption requests or other current obligations.

 

Short Sales Risk. Short sales of securities may result in gains if a security's price declines, but may result in losses if a security's price rises. In a rising market, short positions may be more likely to result in losses because securities sold short may be more likely to increase in value. Short selling is speculative and also involves the risks of: increased leverage, and its accompanying potential for losses; the potential inability to reacquire a security in a timely manner, or at an acceptable price; the possibility of the lender terminating the loan at any time, forcing the Fund to close the transaction under unfavorable circumstances; the additional costs that may be incurred; and the potential loss of investment flexibility caused by the Fund's obligations to provide collateral to the lender and set aside assets to cover the open position. Short sales "against the box" may protect the Fund against the risk of losses in the value of a portfolio security because any decline in the value of the security should be wholly or partially offset by a corresponding gain in the short position. Any potential gains in the security, however, would be wholly or partially offset by a corresponding loss in the short position. Short sales that are not "against the box" involve a form of investment leverage, and the amount of the Fund's loss on a short sale is potentially unlimited. The use of short sales may cause the Fund to have higher expenses than those of other equity mutual funds because of higher transaction costs, premiums, interest or dividends payable to the lender.

 

Small-Cap Companies Risk. The stocks of smaller companies may be subject to more abrupt, erratic market movements than stocks of larger, more established companies. Small companies may have limited product lines or financial resources, or may be dependent on a small or inexperienced management group, and their securities may trade less frequently and in lower volume than securities of larger companies, which could lead to higher transaction costs. Generally, the smaller the company size, the greater the risk.

 

Subsidiary Risks. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The derivatives and other investments held by the Subsidiary are generally similar to those that are permitted to be held by the Fund and are subject to the same risks that apply to similar investments if held directly by the Fund. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus, is not subject to all the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to continue to operate as it does currently and could adversely affect the Fund.

 

Unseasoned Issuers Risk. Unseasoned issuers may not have an established financial history and may have limited product lines, markets or financial resources. Unseasoned issuers may depend on a few key personnel for management and may be susceptible to losses and risks of bankruptcy. As a result, such securities may be more volatile and difficult to sell.

Performance Information

The bar chart and table below illustrate the long-term performance of the Fund. The bar chart below shows you how the performance of the Fund's Institutional Class has varied year by year and provides some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund. The bar chart assumes reinvestment of dividends and distributions. As with all such investments, past performance (before and after taxes) is not an indication of future results. Updated performance information is available at www.boston-partners.com or 1-888-261-4073.

 

The Fund commenced operations as a series of The RBB Fund, Inc. on December 15, 2015, when substantially all of the assets of Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Equity (the "Prior Account") transferred to the Fund. The Fund is managed in all material respects in a manner equivalent to the management of the Prior Account. Accordingly, the performance information shown below for periods prior to December 15, 2015 is that of the Prior Account. The Fund's objectives, policies, guidelines and restrictions are in all material respects equivalent to the Prior Account. The Fund is managed by Joseph F. Feeney, Jr. and Paul Korngiebel, the same Prior Account portfolio managers that managed the Prior Account since its inception in 2015. The Prior Account was not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended ("1940 Act"), and thus was not subject to certain investment and operational restrictions that are imposed by the 1940 Act. If the Prior Account had been registered under the 1940 Act, its performance may have been adversely affected. Accordingly, future Fund performance may be different than the Prior Account's restated past performance. The Prior Account's performance has been restated to reflect estimated expenses of the Fund. After-tax performance returns are not included for the Prior Account. The Prior Account was not a regulated investment company under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code and therefore did not distribute current or accumulated earnings and profits and was not subject to the diversification and source of income requirements applicable to regulated investment companies.

Total Returns for the Calendar Years Ended December 31
Bar Chart

Best and Worst Quarterly Performance (for the periods reflected in the chart above):

 

Best Quarter: 9.42% (quarter ended March 31, 2017)
Worst Quarter: -8.82% (quarter ended December 31,2018)

 

The year-to-date total return for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 was 9.23%.

Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2018

The table below compares the average annual total returns for the Fund's Institutional Class, including the Prior Account, both before and after taxes for the past calendar year and since inception periods to the average annual total returns of broad-based securities market indices for the same periods.

Average Annual Total Returns - Boston Partners Institutional Class - Boston Partners Emerging Markets Long/Short Fund
1 Year
Since Inception
[1]
Inception Date
Institutional Class (18.30%) 1.06% Mar. 01, 2015
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions [2] (18.34%) (0.52%) Mar. 01, 2015
Institutional Class | After Taxes on Distributions and Sales (10.68%) 0.21% Mar. 01, 2015
MSCI Emerging Markets Index - Net Return (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) [3] (14.58%) 1.77% Mar. 01, 2015
MSCI Emerging Markets Index - Gross Return (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) [3] (14.24%) 2.16% Mar. 01, 2015
[1] The "Since Inception" performance includes performance from the Prior Account beginning on March 1, 2015 until the Fund's commencement of operations on December 15, 2015.
[2] After-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown. After-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. In certain cases, the figure representing "Return after Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares" may be higher than the other return figures for the same period, since a higher after-tax return results when a capital loss occurs upon redemption and provides an assumed tax deduction that benefits the investor.
[3] Effective August 31, 2019, the Fund changed its primary index from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index - Gross Return to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index - Net Return. Net total return indices reinvest dividends after the deduction of withholding taxes, using (for international indices) a tax rate applicable to non-resident institutional investors who do not benefit from double taxation treaties.