credit markets. The impact of changes in regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.
Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur
in Singapore, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies located there, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, Singapore.
Indexing Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Industrials Sector Risk. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in the supply of and demand for products and services, product obsolescence, claims for environmental damage or product liability and changes in general economic conditions, among other factors.
Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events
may adversely affect the Fund and its
investments and may impact the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.
Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund
depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. Changes in the
financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.
Lack of Natural Resources Risk. The Fund invests in Singapore, which has few
natural resources. Any fluctuation or shortage in the commodity markets could have a negative impact on the
Singaporean economy.
Large-Capitalization Companies Risk. Large-capitalization companies may be less able than smaller capitalization companies to adapt to changing market conditions. Large-capitalization companies may be more mature and subject to more limited growth potential compared with smaller capitalization companies. During different market cycles, the performance of large-capitalization companies has trailed the overall performance of the broader securities markets.
Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully
replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce
the intended results.
Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks,
including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of