Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay 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 Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. From inception, January 10, 2012, to the most recent
fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 3% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
The Underlying Index is designed to measure the
performance of equity securities in the top 85% of equity market capitalization, as calculated by the index provider, in certain developed market countries. As of June 30, 2012, the Underlying Index consisted of companies in the following 24
countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the
United States. Components primarily include consumer discretionary, consumer staples, financial, healthcare, industrials and information technology companies. The components of the Underlying Index, and the degree to which these components represent
certain industries, may change over time.
BFA uses a “passive” or indexing
approach to try to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does
not try to “beat” the index it tracks and does not
seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.
Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund
will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by keeping portfolio turnover low
in comparison to actively managed investment companies.
BFA uses a representative sampling indexing
strategy to manage the Fund. “Representative sampling” is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively has an investment profile similar to the Underlying Index. The securities
selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar
to those of the Underlying Index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities in the Underlying Index.
The Fund generally invests at least 90% of its
assets in the securities of the Underlying Index or in depositary receipts representing securities in its Underlying Index. The Fund may invest the remainder of its assets in certain futures, options and swap contracts, cash and cash equivalents,
including money market funds advised by BFA or its affiliates, as well as in securities not included in the Underlying Index, but which BFA believes will help the Fund track the Underlying Index.