PROSPECTUS
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF TRUST
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PROSPECTUS |
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF TRUST |
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Ticker: |
Exchange: | |
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Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF |
FLQH |
NYSE Arca, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF |
FLQE |
NYSE Arca, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF |
FLQD |
NYSE Arca, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF |
FLQG |
NYSE Arca, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF |
FLQL |
Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF |
FLQM |
Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF |
FLQS |
Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. |
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
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ETF P 08/21 |
Contents
Fund Summaries
Fund Details
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More Information on Investment Policies, Practices and Risks |
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Shareholder Information
For More Information
Back Cover
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
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FLQH |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ International Equity Hedged Index (the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management fees |
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Distribution and service (12b-1) fees |
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None |
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Other expenses |
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Total annual Fund operating expenses |
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of the period. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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1 Year |
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3 Years |
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5 Years |
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10 Years |
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$ |
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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
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franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
3 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index includes stocks from developed market countries in Europe, Australasia and the Far East that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI EAFE Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI EAFE Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market). The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index incorporates a hedge against the currency risk of the securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index against the U.S. dollar.
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 2% of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The International Equity Hedged Underlying
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4 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index was comprised of 213 securities with capitalizations ranging from $3.17 billion to $346.68 billion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, but may not track the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index.
The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index incorporates a hedge against non-U.S. currency fluctuations by reflecting the impact of rolling monthly currency forward contracts on the currencies represented in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index (the “hedge impact”). The return of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is calculated as the sum of the return of the corresponding unhedged index denominated in U.S. dollars plus the hedge impact. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is calculated as if it sells forward the total value of the non-U.S. dollar denominated securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index at a one-month forward rate to effectively create a hedge against fluctuations in the relative value of each of the component currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar. The hedge is reset on a monthly basis by simulating the setting up of a similar transaction in which the notional amount of the forwards sold represents the new month-end value of the
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franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
5 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
non-U.S. dollar denominated securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. No adjustment to the hedge is made during the month to account for changes in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index due to price movement of securities, corporate events, additions, deletions or any other changes (i.e., the amount hedged is kept constant over the whole month). The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is designed to have higher returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are weakening relative to the U.S. dollar. Conversely, the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index will have lower returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are rising relative to the U.S. dollar.
The Fund intends to enter into monthly foreign currency forward contracts and/or currency futures contracts designed to offset the Fund’s exposure to the component currencies, in order to seek to replicate the hedge impact incorporated in the calculation of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The Fund’s exposure to foreign currency forward contracts and currency futures contracts is based on the aggregate exposure of the Fund to the component currencies.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts.
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6 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies (e.g., fluctuations may negatively affect investments denominated in foreign currencies and any income received or expenses paid by the Fund in that foreign currency).
Currency Hedging In seeking investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, the Fund will attempt to hedge the currency exposure of non-U.S. dollar denominated securities held in its portfolio by investing in foreign currency forward contracts and/or currency futures contracts. While this approach is designed to minimize the impact of currency fluctuations on Fund returns, it does not necessarily eliminate the Fund's exposure to the component currencies. The return of the foreign currency forward contracts and currency futures contracts will not perfectly offset the actual fluctuations between the component currencies and the U.S. dollar. Moreover, while currency hedging can reduce or eliminate losses due to exchange rate changes, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and the Fund bears additional transaction costs in entering into and closing out of derivative positions. Currency hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative instruments and the currencies that the derivative instruments intend to hedge, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions will
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franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
7 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
be effective. The Fund’s exposure to the component currencies may not be fully hedged at all times.
Because the Fund's currency hedge is generally reset on a monthly basis, currency risk can develop or increase intra-month. Furthermore, while the Fund is designed to hedge against currency fluctuations, it is possible that a degree of currency exposure may remain even at the time a hedging transaction is implemented. The Fund may not be able to structure its hedging transactions as anticipated or its hedging transactions may not successfully reduce the currency risk included in the Fund's portfolio in a way that tracks the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index.
Increased volatility of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index or the U.S. dollar relative to the currencies being hedged will generally reduce the effectiveness of the Fund's currency hedging strategy, measured on an aggregate basis. Significant differences between U.S. dollar interest rates and foreign currency interest rates may impact the effectiveness of the Fund's currency hedging strategy.
Derivative Instruments The performance of derivative instruments depends largely on the performance of an underlying currency, security, interest rate or index, and such derivatives often have risks similar to the underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivatives involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund’s portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that significantly exceeds the Fund’s initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. Their successful use will usually depend on the investment manager’s ability to accurately forecast movements in the market relating to the underlying instrument. Should a market or markets, or prices of particular classes of investments move in an unexpected manner, especially in unusual or extreme market conditions, the Fund may not realize the anticipated benefits of the transaction, and it may realize losses, which could be significant. If the investment manager is not successful in using such derivative instruments, the Fund’s performance may be worse than if the investment manager did not use such derivatives at all. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative may also not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. Derivatives also may present the risk that the other party to the transaction will fail to perform. There is also the risk, especially under extreme market conditions, that a derivative, which usually would operate as a hedge, provides no hedging benefits at all.
Regional The Fund will invest in specific countries or geographic regions to approximately the same extent as the International Equity Hedged Underlying
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8 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Index. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific geographic region or a particular country, the Fund will generally have more exposure to the specific regional or country economic risks. In the event of economic or political turmoil or a deterioration of diplomatic relations in a region or country where a substantial portion of the Fund’s assets are invested, the Fund may experience substantial illiquidity or reduction in the value of the Fund’s investments. Adverse conditions in a certain region or country can also adversely affect securities of issuers in other countries whose economies appear to be unrelated.
Current uncertainty concerning the economic consequences of the January 31, 2020 departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) may increase market volatility.
Depositary Receipts Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, the Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
Calculation Methodology The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index (or the MSCI index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While MSCI provides descriptions of what the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is designed to achieve, MSCI does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the
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franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
9 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
International Equity Hedged Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, pricing differences (including differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), differences in transaction and hedging costs and forward rates achieved, the Fund's holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. In addition, certain regulatory or contractual requirements applicable to the Fund's use of derivatives could prevent the Fund from being able to fully replicate the hedge impact incorporated in the calculation of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, which could result in increased index tracking error. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index does not, and because the Fund accepts creations and redemptions during time periods between which it is able to adjust its currency hedges, whereas the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index does not adjust its hedging during these periods.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary
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10 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
International Closed Market Trading To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
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franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
11 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
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Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
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For periods ended December 31, 2020
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1 Year |
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Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF |
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Since inception June 1, 2016. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
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Prospectus |
13 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2016).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 100,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ INTERNATIONAL
EQUITY HEDGED ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ EMERGING
MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
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FLQE |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ Emerging Markets Index (the Emerging Markets Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management fees |
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Distribution and service (12b-1) fees |
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None |
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Other expenses |
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Total annual Fund operating expenses |
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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1 Year |
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3 Years |
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5 Years |
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10 Years |
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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
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Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ EMERGING
MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The Emerging Markets Underlying Index includes stocks from emerging market countries that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Emerging Markets Underlying Index was comprised of 356 securities with capitalizations ranging from $621 million to $560.78 billion.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ EMERGING
MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, but may not track the Emerging Markets Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Emerging Markets Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Emerging Markets Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies (e.g., fluctuations may negatively affect investments denominated in foreign currencies and any income received or expenses paid by the Fund in that foreign currency). The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.
Emerging Market Countries The Fund’s investments in emerging market issuers are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets, including: delays in settling portfolio securities transactions; currency and capital controls; greater sensitivity to interest
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ EMERGING
MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
rate changes; pervasiveness of corruption and crime; currency exchange rate volatility; and inflation, deflation or currency devaluation.
Regional The Fund will invest in specific countries or geographic regions to approximately the same extent as the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific geographic region or a particular country, the Fund will generally have more exposure to the specific regional or country economic risks. In the event of economic or political turmoil or a deterioration of diplomatic relations in a region or country where a substantial portion of the Fund’s assets are invested, the Fund may experience substantial illiquidity or reduction in the value of the Fund’s investments. Adverse conditions in a certain region or country can also adversely affect securities of issuers in other countries whose economies appear to be unrelated.
Current uncertainty concerning the economic consequences of the January 31, 2020 departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) may increase market volatility.
Chinese Securities There are special risks associated with investments in China, including exposure to currency fluctuations, less liquidity, expropriation, confiscatory taxation, nationalization and exchange control regulations (including currency blockage). Inflation and rapid fluctuations in inflation and interest rates have had, and may continue to have, negative effects on the economy and securities markets of China. China is deemed by the investment manager to be an emerging markets country, which means an investment in this country has more heightened risks than general foreign investing due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks and accounting standards or auditor oversight in the country to support securities markets as well as the possibility for more widespread corruption and fraud. In addition, the standards for environmental, social and corporate governance matters in China tend to be lower than such standards in more developed economies. Also, certain securities issued by companies located operating in China, such as China A-Shares, are subject to trading restrictions, quota limitations, and clearing and settlement risks. In addition, there may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies located in or operating in China and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
Trade disputes and the imposition of tariffs on goods and services can affect the Chinese economy, particularly in light of China's large export sector, as well as the global economy. Trade disputes can result in increased costs of production and reduced profitability for non-export-dependent companies that rely on imports to the
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
extent China engages in retaliatory tariffs. Trade disputes may also lead to increased currency exchange rate volatility.
Depositary Receipts Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, the Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
Calculation Methodology The Emerging Markets Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index (or the MSCI index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the Emerging Markets Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the Emerging Markets Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While MSCI provides descriptions of what the Emerging Markets Underlying Index is designed to achieve, MSCI does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the Emerging Markets Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Emerging Markets Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the Emerging Markets Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the Emerging Markets Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Emerging Markets Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, pricing differences (including differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV), transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Emerging Markets Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Emerging Markets Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
International Closed Market Trading To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Cash Transactions Unlike certain ETFs, the Fund expects to generally effect its creations and redemptions partially for cash, rather than for in-kind securities. Therefore, it may be required to sell portfolio securities and subsequently recognize gains on such sales that the Fund might not have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. As such, investments in Fund shares may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that distributes portfolio securities entirely in-kind.
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ EMERGING
MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
For periods ended December 31, 2020
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Since Inception |
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Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF |
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Since inception June 1, 2016. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2016).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 200,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
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MARKETS ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ GLOBAL
DIVIDEND ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
|
FLQD |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ Global Dividend Index (the Global Dividend Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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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
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ GLOBAL
DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The Global Dividend Underlying Index includes stocks from developed and emerging market countries with high and persistent dividend income that have favorable exposure to a quality investment style factor. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The Global Dividend Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index over the long term by applying dividend persistence and yield screens and the quality factor selection process. First, dividend persistence and yield screens are applied to the equity securities of the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index in order to (i) exclude securities with negative year-over-year dividend per share growth in any of the last five years (securities with insufficient data to calculate such growth are also excluded) and (ii) exclude securities with a five year average monthly dividend yield of less than 1.2 times the average of the five year average monthly dividend yields of the securities of the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index. Second, equity securities are then selected based on their favorable exposure to the quality investment style factor, which incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage.
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 2% of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. The Global Dividend Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Global Dividend Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Dividend Underlying Index was
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ GLOBAL
DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
comprised of 100 securities with capitalizations ranging from $3.96 billion to $560.78 billion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Global Dividend Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Global Dividend Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Global Dividend Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Global Dividend Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, but may not track the Global Dividend Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Global Dividend Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Global Dividend Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Dividend Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Global Dividend Underlying Index is concentrated. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Dividend Underlying Index was concentrated in the financials sector.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a
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DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factor and Dividend Screens There can be no assurance that the quality factor stock selection process and dividend screens of the Global Dividend Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to the quality investment factor and use of dividend screens may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies (e.g., fluctuations may negatively affect investments denominated in foreign currencies and any income received or expenses paid by the Fund in that foreign currency). The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.
Emerging Market Countries The Fund’s investments in emerging market issuers are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional
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DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets, including: delays in settling portfolio securities transactions; currency and capital controls; greater sensitivity to interest rate changes; pervasiveness of corruption and crime; currency exchange rate volatility; and inflation, deflation or currency devaluation.
Regional The Fund will invest in specific countries or geographic regions to approximately the same extent as the Global Dividend Underlying Index. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific geographic region or a particular country, the Fund will generally have more exposure to the specific regional or country economic risks. In the event of economic or political turmoil or a deterioration of diplomatic relations in a region or country where a substantial portion of the Fund’s assets are invested, the Fund may experience substantial illiquidity or reduction in the value of the Fund’s investments. Adverse conditions in a certain region or country can also adversely affect securities of issuers in other countries whose economies appear to be unrelated.
Current uncertainty concerning the economic consequences of the January 31, 2020 departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) may increase market volatility.
Depositary Receipts Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, the Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
Dividend-Oriented Companies Companies that have historically paid regular dividends to shareholders may decrease or eliminate dividend payments in the future. A decrease in dividend payments by an issuer may result in a decrease in the value of the issuer’s stock and less available income for the Fund.
Calculation Methodology The Global Dividend Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Global Dividend Underlying Index (or the MSCI index on which it is based), including
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DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the Global Dividend Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the Global Dividend Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While MSCI provides descriptions of what the Global Dividend Underlying Index is designed to achieve, MSCI does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the Global Dividend Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the Global Dividend Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Global Dividend Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Global Dividend Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the Global Dividend Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the Global Dividend Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the Global Dividend Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the Global Dividend Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Global Dividend Underlying Index, pricing differences (including differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV), transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Global Dividend Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Global Dividend Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than
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NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
The Fund may focus in the financial services sector. Financial services companies are subject to extensive government regulation that may affect their profitability in many ways, including by limiting the amount and types of loans and other commitments they can make, and the interest rates and fees they can charge. A financial services company's profitability, and therefore its stock prices, is especially sensitive to interest rate changes as well as the ability of borrowers to repay their loans. Changing regulations, continuing consolidations, and development of new products and structures all are likely to have a significant impact on financial services companies.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the Global Dividend Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
International Closed Market Trading To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
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DIVIDEND ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Cash Transactions Unlike certain ETFs, the Fund expects to generally effect its creations and redemptions partially for cash, rather than for in-kind securities. Therefore, it may be required to sell portfolio securities and subsequently recognize gains on such sales that the Fund might not have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. As such, investments in Fund shares may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that distributes portfolio securities entirely in-kind.
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
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DIVIDEND ETF
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SUMMARIES
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For periods ended December 31, 2020
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Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF |
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Since inception June 1, 2016. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
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DIVIDEND ETF
FUND SUMMARIES
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2016).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 200,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
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Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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ETF
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SUMMARIES
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FLQG |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ Global Equity Index (the Global Equity Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management fees |
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Total annual Fund operating expenses |
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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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
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ETF
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in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The Global Equity Underlying Index includes stocks from developed and emerging market countries that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. The Global Equity Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI ACWI Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI ACWI Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Equity Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the Global Equity Underlying Index. The Global Equity Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Global Equity Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Equity Underlying Index was comprised of 747 securities with capitalizations ranging from $621 million to $2.08 trillion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Global Equity Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve,
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ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Global Equity Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Global Equity Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Global Equity Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Global Equity Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Global Equity Underlying Index, but may not track the Global Equity Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Global Equity Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Global Equity Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Global Equity Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Equity Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Global Equity Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have
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ETF
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resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the Global Equity Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Foreign Securities (non-U.S.) Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities, and includes risks associated with: (i) internal and external political and economic developments – e.g., the political, economic and social policies and structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the U.S. or some foreign countries may be subject to trading restrictions or economic sanctions; (ii) trading practices – e.g., government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets, trading systems and brokers may be less than in the U.S.; (iii) availability of information – e.g., foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers; (iv) limited markets – e.g., the securities of certain foreign issuers may be less liquid (harder to sell) and more volatile; and (v) currency exchange rate fluctuations and policies (e.g., fluctuations may negatively affect investments denominated in foreign currencies and any income received or expenses paid by the Fund in that foreign currency). The risks of foreign investments may be greater in developing or emerging market countries.
Emerging Market Countries The Fund’s investments in emerging market issuers are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets, including: delays in settling portfolio securities transactions; currency and capital controls; greater sensitivity to interest rate changes; pervasiveness of corruption and crime; currency exchange rate volatility; and inflation, deflation or currency devaluation.
Regional The Fund will invest in specific countries or geographic regions to approximately the same extent as the Global Equity Underlying Index. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific
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ETF
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geographic region or a particular country, the Fund will generally have more exposure to the specific regional or country economic risks. In the event of economic or political turmoil or a deterioration of diplomatic relations in a region or country where a substantial portion of the Fund’s assets are invested, the Fund may experience substantial illiquidity or reduction in the value of the Fund’s investments. Adverse conditions in a certain region or country can also adversely affect securities of issuers in other countries whose economies appear to be unrelated.
Current uncertainty concerning the economic consequences of the January 31, 2020 departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) may increase market volatility.
Depositary Receipts Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying securities. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. In these cases if the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, the Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution and greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder. There may be an increased possibility of untimely responses to certain corporate actions of the issuer in an unsponsored depositary receipt program. Accordingly, there may be less information available regarding issuers of securities underlying unsponsored programs and there may not be a correlation between this information and the market value of the depositary receipts.
Calculation Methodology The Global Equity Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Global Equity Underlying Index (or the MSCI index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the Global Equity Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the Global Equity Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While MSCI provides descriptions of what the Global Equity Underlying Index is designed to achieve, MSCI does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the Global Equity Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the Global Equity Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
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ETF
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SUMMARIES
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Global Equity Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Global Equity Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the Global Equity Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the Global Equity Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the Global Equity Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the Global Equity Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Global Equity Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Global Equity Underlying Index, pricing differences (including differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV), transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Global Equity Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Global Equity Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater
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sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the Global Equity Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
International Closed Market Trading To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Cash Transactions Unlike certain ETFs, the Fund expects to generally effect its creations and redemptions partially for cash, rather than for in-kind securities. Therefore, it may be required to sell portfolio securities and subsequently recognize gains on such sales that the Fund might not have recognized if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. As such, investments in Fund shares may be less tax-efficient than an investment in an ETF that distributes portfolio securities entirely in-kind.
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a
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third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ GLOBAL EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
For periods ended December 31, 2020
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Since inception June 1, 2016. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2016).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 200,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in
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exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
|
FLQL |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ U.S. Large Cap Equity Index (the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
|
|
|
|
Management fees |
|
|
|
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees |
|
None |
|
Other expenses |
|
|
|
Total annual Fund operating expenses |
|
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
|
|
|
|
1 Year |
|
3 Years |
|
5 Years |
|
10 Years |
|
|
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
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
|
48 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 1000® Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 1000® Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. The U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 255 securities with capitalizations ranging from $865 million to $2.08 trillion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and
|
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49 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
expenses, and that of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index, but may not track the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have
|
50 |
Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Calculation Methodology The U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index (or the FTSE Russell index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While FTSE Russell provides descriptions of what the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index is designed to achieve, FTSE Russell does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the U.S.
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51 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Large Cap Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
security is added or removed, respectively, from the U.S Large Cap Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
|
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53 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- |
|
|
For periods ended December 31, 2020
|
|
|
1 Year |
|
Since Inception |
| |
|
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
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|
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1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 | |
|
1. |
Since inception April 26, 2017. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
|
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2017).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded
|
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Prospectus |
55 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. EQUITY
ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
|
56 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
|
FLQM |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity Index (the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
|
|
|
|
Management fees |
|
|
|
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees |
|
None |
|
Other expenses |
|
|
|
Total annual Fund operating expenses |
|
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
|
|
|
|
1 Year |
|
3 Years |
|
5 Years |
|
10 Years |
|
|
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ |
|
$ | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
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
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
57 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell Midcap® Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell Midcap® Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, gross profit over assets and gross margin sustainability. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as forward earnings yield, EBITDA to enterprise value, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. The U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 205 securities with capitalizations ranging from $370 million to $92.67 billion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication
|
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Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index, but may not track the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts.
|
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Prospectus |
59 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Mid Capitalization Companies Securities issued by mid capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies, involve substantial risks and should be considered speculative. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Calculation Methodology The U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index (or the FTSE Russell index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While FTSE Russell provides descriptions of what the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index is designed to achieve, FTSE Russell does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in
|
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
order to track the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the
|
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61 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund's underlying index.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
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- |
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For periods ended December 31, 2020
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1 Year |
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Since Inception |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF |
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1 |
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1. |
Since inception April 26, 2017. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2017).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. MID CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
|
FLQS |
To seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity Index (the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index).
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may also incur other fees, such as usual and customary brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and the Example that follows.
(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
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Management fees |
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Distribution and service (12b-1) fees |
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None |
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Other expenses |
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Total annual Fund operating expenses |
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This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then 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 Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
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1 Year |
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3 Years |
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5 Years |
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10 Years |
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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
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
in
a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Fund operating
expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most
recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was
The U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the Russell 2000® Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the Russell 2000® Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, gross profit over assets and gross margin sustainability. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as forward earnings yield, EBITDA to enterprise value, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. The U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 500 securities with capitalizations ranging from $1 million to $20.73 billion.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a
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Prospectus |
67 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index, but may not track the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index.
The Fund will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index is concentrated.
Market The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The market value of a security or other investment may be reduced by market activity or other results of supply and demand unrelated to the issuer. This is a basic risk associated with all investments. When there are more sellers than buyers, prices tend to fall. Likewise, when there are more buyers than sellers, prices tend to rise.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand,
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Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of COVID-19 have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is unpredictable and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods.
Small Capitalization Companies Securities issued by small capitalization companies may be more volatile in price than those of larger companies and may involve substantial risks. Such risks may include greater sensitivity to economic conditions, less certain growth prospects, lack of depth of management and funds for growth and development, and limited or less developed product lines and markets. In addition, small capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans.
Calculation Methodology The U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index (or the FTSE Russell index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Index-Related There is no assurance that the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While FTSE Russell provides descriptions of what the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index is designed to achieve, FTSE Russell does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. Gains, losses or costs to the Fund caused by errors in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index may therefore be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
order to track the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index for that security. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index does not.
Market Trading 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 high volatility and disruption in the creation/redemption process of the Fund. Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV.
Concentration To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Passive Investment Unlike many investment companies, the Fund is not actively managed and the investment manager does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. Therefore, the investment manager would not necessarily buy or sell a security unless that security is added or removed, respectively, from the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index, even if that security generally is underperforming.
Authorized Participant Concentration Only an authorized participant (Authorized Participant) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Small Fund When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange.
Large Shareholder Certain shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third-party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment, that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels or that the Fund would continue to meet applicable listing requirements. Redemptions by large shareholders could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. In addition, transactions by large shareholders may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
The
following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing
in the Fund. The bar chart shows changes in the Fund's performance from year to
year. The table shows how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year, 5 years,
10 years or since inception, as applicable, compared with those of a broad
measure of market performance and the Fund’s underlying index.
|
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Prospectus |
71 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
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- |
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For periods ended December 31, 2020
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1 Year |
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Since Inception |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF |
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1. |
Since inception April 26, 2017. | |||||
The 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 are not relevant to investors who hold their Fund shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.
Investment Manager
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services)
|
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Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
Portfolio Managers
Dina Ting, CFA
Senior Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since inception (2017).
Hailey Harris
Vice President of Advisory Services and portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019.
Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Fund shares may only be purchased and sold on a national securities exchange through a broker-dealer. The price of Fund shares is based on market price, and because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). The Fund issues or redeems shares that have been aggregated into blocks of 50,000 shares or multiples thereof (Creation Units) to Authorized Participants who have entered into agreements with the Fund’s distributor, Franklin Distributors, LLC. The Fund will generally issue or redeem Creation Units in exchange for a basket of securities (and an amount of cash) that the Fund specifies each day.
An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid-ask spread”). Recent information, including information on the Fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads is available on the Fund’s website at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Taxes
The Fund’s distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains, or some combination of both, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account, in which case your distributions would generally be taxed when withdrawn from the tax-deferred account.
Payments
to Broker-Dealers and
Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the investment manager or other related companies may pay the intermediary for certain Fund-related activities, including those that are designed to make the intermediary more knowledgeable about exchange traded
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
73 |
FRANKLIN LIBERTYQ U.S. SMALL CAP
EQUITY ETF
FUND
SUMMARIES
products, such as the Fund, as well as for marketing, education or other initiatives related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.
|
74 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Fund Details
Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF (collectively, the “Non-U.S. Funds”)
Each Fund’s investment goal is to seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Fund’s corresponding underlying index (each an “Underlying Index” and, collectively, the “Underlying Indexes”). Each Fund’s investment goal is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed by the board of trustees without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be given at least 60 days’ advance notice of any change to a Fund’s investment goal.
Principal Investment Policies and Practices
Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing such securities. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is a systematic, rules-based proprietary index that is owned and calculated by MSCI. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is based on the MSCI EAFE Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The MSCI EAFE Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. and Canada.
The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index includes stocks from developed market countries in Europe, Australasia and the Far East that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. As of May 31, 2021, the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index included the following developed market countries in Europe, Australasia and the Far East:
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Australasia: Australia and New Zealand.
Far East: Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.
The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI EAFE Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI EAFE Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market). The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index incorporates a hedge against the currency risk of the securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index against the U.S. dollar.
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 2% of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index was comprised of 213 securities with capitalizations ranging from $3.17 billion to $346.68 billion.
An equity security, or stock, represents a proportionate share, or the right to acquire a proportionate share, of the ownership of a company; its value is based on the success of the company’s business and the value of its assets, as well as general market conditions. Common stocks, preferred stocks and related depositary receipts are examples of equity securities. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that give their holders the right to receive securities issued by a foreign or domestic company.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, but may not track the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. Between these semi-annual reconstitutions, a component security will be removed from the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index if such security is removed from the MSCI EAFE Index. When securities are removed from the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index for any reason, the investment manager generally will, but is not required to, sell such securities from the Fund’s portfolio.
The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index incorporates a hedge against non-U.S. currency fluctuations by reflecting the impact of rolling monthly currency forward contracts on the currencies represented in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index (the “hedge impact”). The return of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is calculated as the sum of the return of the corresponding unhedged index denominated in U.S. dollars plus the hedge impact. The International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is calculated as if it sells forward the total value of the non-U.S. dollar denominated securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index at a one-month forward rate to effectively create a hedge against fluctuations in the relative value of each of the component currencies in relation to the U.S. dollar. The hedge is reset on a monthly basis by simulating the setting up of a similar transaction in which the notional amount of the forwards sold represents the new month-end value of the non-U.S. dollar denominated securities included in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. No adjustment to the hedge is made during the month to account for changes in the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index due to price movement of securities, corporate events, additions, deletions or any other changes (i.e., the amount hedged is kept constant over the whole month). The
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
International Equity Hedged Underlying Index is designed to have higher returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are weakening relative to the U.S. dollar. Conversely, the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index will have lower returns than an equivalent unhedged index when the component currencies are rising relative to the U.S. dollar.
The Fund intends to enter into monthly foreign currency forward contracts and/or currency futures contracts designed to offset the Fund’s exposure to the component currencies, in order to seek to replicate the hedge impact incorporated in the calculation of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index. The Fund’s exposure to foreign currency forward contracts and currency futures contracts is based on the aggregate exposure of the Fund to the component currencies.
A foreign currency forward contract is an obligation to purchase or sell a specific foreign currency in exchange for another currency, which may be U.S. dollars, at an agreed exchange rate (price) at a future date. Foreign currency forwards are typically individually negotiated and privately traded by currency traders and their customers in the interbank market.
A futures contract is a standard binding agreement that trades on an exchange to buy or sell a specified quantity of an underlying instrument or asset at a specified price at a specified later date. A “sale” of a futures contract means the acquisition of a contractual obligation to deliver the underlying instrument called for by the contract at a specified price on a specified date. A “purchase” of a futures contract means the acquisition of a contractual obligation to acquire a specified quantity of the underlying instrument called for by the contract at a specified price on a specified date. The purchase or sale of a futures contract will allow the Fund to increase or decrease its exposure to the underlying instrument or asset. Although most futures contracts used by the Fund allow for a cash payment of the net gain or loss on the contract at maturity in lieu of delivery of the underlying instruments, some require the actual delivery or acquisition of the underlying instrument or asset. The Fund may buy and sell futures contracts that trade on U.S. and foreign exchanges.
Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing such securities. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index is a systematic, rules-based proprietary index that is owned and calculated by MSCI. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index is based on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of emerging markets.
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The Emerging Markets Underlying Index includes stocks from emerging market countries that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. As of May 31, 2021, the Emerging Markets Underlying Index included the following emerging market countries:
Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Europe, Middle East and Africa: Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Asia: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
The Emerging Markets Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI Emerging Markets Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Emerging Markets Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Emerging Markets Underlying Index was comprised of 356 securities with capitalizations ranging from $621 million to $560.78 billion.
An equity security, or stock, represents a proportionate share, or the right to acquire a proportionate share, of the ownership of a company; its value is based on the success of the company’s business and the value of its assets, as well as general market conditions. Common stocks, preferred stocks and related depositary receipts are examples of equity securities. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that give their holders the right to receive securities issued by a foreign or domestic company.
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The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, but may not track the Emerging Markets Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Emerging Markets Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Emerging Markets Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Emerging Markets Underlying Index. Between these semi-annual reconstitutions, a component security will be removed from the Emerging Markets Underlying Index if such security is removed from the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. When securities are removed from the Emerging Markets Underlying Index for any reason, the investment manager generally will, but is not required to, sell such securities from the Fund’s portfolio.
The Fund invests in eligible China A-Shares listed and traded on the Shanghai stock exchange through the Shanghai - Hong Kong Stock Connect program and in eligible China A-Shares listed and traded on the Shenzhen stock exchange through the Shenzhen - Hong Kong Stock Connect program (both programs collectively referred to as "Stock Connect"), and may also invest in China A-Shares acquired through any other means permitted by applicable law or regulation.
Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Global Dividend Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing such securities. The Global Dividend Underlying Index is a systematic, rules-based proprietary index that is owned and calculated by MSCI. The Global Dividend Underlying Index is based on the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index
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using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets, excluding REIT securities.
The Global Dividend Underlying Index includes stocks from developed and emerging market countries with high and persistent dividend income that have favorable exposure to a quality investment style factor. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Dividend Underlying Index included the following developed and emerging market countries:
Developed Markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Emerging Markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
The Global Dividend Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index over the long term by applying dividend persistence and yield screens and the quality factor selection process. First, dividend persistence and yield screens are applied to the equity securities of the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index in order to (i) exclude securities with negative year-over-year dividend per share growth in any of the last five years (securities with insufficient data to calculate such growth are also excluded) and (ii) exclude securities with a five year average monthly dividend yield of less than 1.2 times the average of the five year average monthly dividend yields of the securities of the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index. Second, equity securities are then selected based on their favorable exposure to the quality investment style factor, which incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage.
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 2% of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. The Global Dividend Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Global Dividend Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Dividend Underlying Index was
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comprised of 100 securities with capitalizations ranging from $3.96 billion to $560.78 billion.
An equity security, or stock, represents a proportionate share, or the right to acquire a proportionate share, of the ownership of a company; its value is based on the success of the company’s business and the value of its assets, as well as general market conditions. Common stocks, preferred stocks and related depositary receipts are examples of equity securities. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that give their holders the right to receive securities issued by a foreign or domestic company.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Global Dividend Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Global Dividend Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Global Dividend Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Global Dividend Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, but may not track the Global Dividend Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Global Dividend Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Global Dividend Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Global Dividend Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Dividend Underlying Index. Between these semi-annual reconstitutions, a component security will be removed from the Global Dividend Underlying Index if such security is removed from the MSCI ACWI ex REITs Index. When securities are removed from the Global Dividend Underlying Index for any reason, the investment manager generally will, but is not required to, sell such securities from the Fund’s portfolio.
Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF
Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Global Equity Underlying Index and in depositary receipts representing such securities. The Global Equity Underlying Index is a
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systematic, rules-based proprietary index that is owned and calculated by MSCI. The Global Equity Underlying Index is based on the MSCI ACWI Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The MSCI ACWI Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed and emerging markets.
The Global Equity Underlying Index includes stocks from developed and emerging market countries that have favorable exposure to multiple investment style factors. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Equity Underlying Index included the following developed and emerging market countries:
Developed Markets: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Emerging Markets: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The Global Equity Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the MSCI ACWI Index over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from the MSCI ACWI Index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities. The “quality” factor incorporates measurements such as return on equity, earnings variability, cash return on assets and leverage. The “value” factor incorporates measurements such as price to earnings, price to forward earnings, price to book value and dividend yield. The “momentum” factor incorporates measurements such as 6-month risk adjusted price momentum and 12-month risk-adjusted price momentum. The “low volatility” factor incorporates measurements such as historical beta (i.e., a measure of the volatility of a security relative to the total market).
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Equity Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the Global Equity Underlying Index. The Global Equity Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution. The Global Equity Underlying Index may include large- and mid-capitalization companies. As of May 31, 2021, the Global Equity Underlying Index was comprised of 747 securities with capitalizations ranging from $621 million to $2.08 trillion.
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An equity security, or stock, represents a proportionate share, or the right to acquire a proportionate share, of the ownership of a company; its value is based on the success of the company’s business and the value of its assets, as well as general market conditions. Common stocks, preferred stocks and related depositary receipts are examples of equity securities. Depositary receipts are certificates typically issued by a bank or trust company that give their holders the right to receive securities issued by a foreign or domestic company.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Global Equity Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Global Equity Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of the Global Equity Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Global Equity Underlying Index). However, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Global Equity Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a representative sampling strategy whereby the Fund will invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of the Global Equity Underlying Index, but may not track the Global Equity Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Global Equity Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Global Equity Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Global Equity Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Global Equity Underlying Index.
Between these semi-annual reconstitutions, a component security will be removed from the Global Equity Underlying Index if such security is removed from the MSCI ACWI Index. When securities are removed from the Global Equity Underlying Index for any reason, the investment manager generally will, but is not required to, sell such securities from the Fund’s portfolio.
Concentration
Each Non-U.S. Fund (hereafter the “Fund”) will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that its corresponding Underlying Index is concentrated. The investment manager has adopted firewall procedures that are expected to limit the investment manager’s freedom of action to concentrate the
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Fund’s assets in a particular industry pursuant to management’s discretion except in accordance with the rules-based methodology of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index.
Market
The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The Fund’s investments may decline in value due to factors affecting individual issuers (such as the results of supply and demand), or sectors within the securities markets. The value of a security or other investment also may go up or down due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular issuer, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in interest rates or exchange rates, or adverse investor sentiment generally. In addition, unexpected events and their aftermaths, such as the spread of diseases; natural, environmental or man-made disasters; financial, political or social disruptions; terrorism and war; and other tragedies or catastrophes, can cause investor fear and panic, which can adversely affect the economies of many companies, sectors, nations, regions and the market in general, in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that securities or other investments held by the Fund will participate in or otherwise benefit from the advance.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, on national and global economies, individual companies and the financial markets is unpredictable, may result in a high degree of uncertainty for potentially extended periods of time and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factor and Dividend Screens
There can be no assurance that the multi-factor or quality factor stock selection process or dividend screens of the Underlying Index will enhance performance.
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Exposure to such investment factors and use of dividend screens may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods. There is no guarantee the index provider’s methodology will be successful in creating an index that achieves exposure to such investment factors or stocks with high and persistent dividend income.
Foreign Securities (non-U.S.)
Investing in foreign securities typically involves more risks than investing in U.S. securities. Certain of these risks also may apply to securities of U.S. companies with significant foreign operations.
Currency exchange rates. Foreign securities may be issued and traded in foreign currencies. As a result, their market values in U.S. dollars may be affected by changes in exchange rates between such foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar, as well as between currencies of countries other than the U.S. For example, if the value of the U.S. dollar goes up compared to a foreign currency, an investment traded in that foreign currency will go down in value because it will be worth fewer U.S. dollars. The Fund accrues additional expenses when engaging in currency exchange transactions, and valuation of the Fund's foreign securities may be subject to greater risk because both the currency (relative to the U.S. dollar) and the security must be considered.
Political and economic developments. The political, economic and social policies or structures of some foreign countries may be less stable and more volatile than those in the United States. Investments in these countries may be subject to greater risks of internal and external conflicts, expropriation, nationalization of assets, foreign exchange controls (such as suspension of the ability to transfer currency from a given country), restrictions on removal of assets, political or social instability, military action or unrest, diplomatic developments, currency devaluations, foreign ownership limitations, and substantial, punitive or confiscatory tax increases. It is possible that a government may take over the assets or operations of a company or impose restrictions on the exchange or export of currency or other assets. Some countries also may have different legal systems that may make it difficult or expensive for the Fund to vote proxies, exercise shareholder rights, and pursue legal remedies with respect to its foreign investments. Diplomatic and political developments could affect the economies, industries, and securities and currency markets of the countries in which the Fund is invested. These developments include rapid and adverse political changes; social instability; regional conflicts; sanctions imposed by the United States, other nations or other governmental entities, including supranational entities; terrorism; and war. In addition, such developments could contribute to the devaluation of a country’s currency, a downgrade in the credit ratings of issuers in such country, or a decline in the value and liquidity of securities of issuers in that country. An imposition of sanctions upon, or other government actions impacting, certain
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issuers in a country could result in an (i) immediate freeze of that issuer’s securities, impairing the ability of the Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities or (ii) other limitations on the Fund’s ability to invest or hold such securities. These factors would affect the value of the Fund’s investments and are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to predict and take into account with respect to the Fund's investments.
Trading practices. Brokerage commissions, withholding taxes, custodial fees, and other fees generally are higher in foreign markets. The policies and procedures followed by foreign stock exchanges, currency markets, trading systems and brokers may differ from those applicable in the United States, with possibly negative consequences to the Fund. The procedures and rules governing foreign trading, settlement and custody (holding of the Fund's assets) also may result in losses or delays in payment, delivery or recovery of money or other property. Foreign government supervision and regulation of foreign securities and currency markets and trading systems may be less than or different from government supervision in the United States, and may increase the Fund's regulatory and compliance burden and/or decrease the Fund's investor rights and protections.
Trade disputes. The economies of foreign countries dependent on large export sectors may be adversely affected by trade disputes with key trading partners and escalating tariffs imposed on goods and services produced by such countries. A national economic slowdown in the export sector may also affect companies that are not heavily dependent on exports. To the extent a country engages in retaliatory tariffs, a company that relies on imported parts to produce its own goods may experience increased costs of production or reduced profitability, which may affect consumers, investors and the domestic economy. Trade disputes and retaliatory actions may include embargoes and other trade limitations, which may trigger a significant reduction in international trade and impact the global economy. Trade disputes may also lead to increased currency exchange rate volatility, which can adversely affect the prices of Fund securities valued in US dollars. The potential threat of trade disputes may also negatively affect investor confidence in the markets generally and investment growth.
Availability of information. Foreign issuers may not be subject to the same disclosure, accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards and practices as U.S. issuers. Thus, there may be less information publicly available about foreign issuers than about most U.S. issuers. In addition, information provided by foreign issuers may be less timely or less reliable than information provided by U.S. issuers.
Limited markets. Certain foreign securities may be less liquid (harder to sell) and their prices may be more volatile than many U.S. securities. Illiquidity tends to be greater, and valuation of the Fund's foreign securities may be more difficult, due to the infrequent trading and/or delayed reporting of quotes and sales. If the Fund’s
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underlying portfolio holdings are illiquid, the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the market for the underlying portfolio holdings, and the Fund’s market price could deviate from the Fund’s NAV.
Emerging Market Countries
The Fund's investments in emerging market issuers are subject to all of the risks of foreign investing generally, and have additional heightened risks due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks to support securities markets. Some of the additional significant risks include:
· less social, political and economic stability;
· a higher possibility of the devaluation of a country’s currency, a downgrade in the credit ratings of issuers in such country, or a decline in the value and liquidity of securities of issuers in that country if the United States, other nations or other governmental entities (including supranational entities) impose sanctions on issuers that limit or restrict foreign investment, the movement of assets or other economic activity in the country due to political, military or regional conflicts or due to terrorism or war;
· smaller securities markets with low or non-existent trading volume and greater illiquidity and price volatility;
· more restrictive national policies on foreign investment, including restrictions on investment in issuers or industries deemed sensitive to national interests;
· less transparent and established taxation policies;
· less developed regulatory or legal structures governing private and foreign investment or allowing for judicial redress for injury to private property, such as bankruptcy;
· less familiarity with a capital market structure or market-oriented economy and more widespread corruption and fraud;
· less financial sophistication, creditworthiness and/or resources possessed by, and less government regulation of, the financial institutions and issuers with which the Fund transacts;
· less government supervision and regulation of business and industry practices, stock exchanges, brokers and listed companies than in the U.S.;
· greater concentration in a few industries resulting in greater vulnerability to regional and global trade conditions;
· higher rates of inflation and more rapid and extreme fluctuations in inflation rates;
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· greater sensitivity to interest rate changes (for example, a higher interest rate environment can make it more difficult for emerging market governments to service their existing debt);
· increased volatility in currency exchange rates and potential for currency devaluations and/or currency controls;
· greater debt burdens relative to the size of the economy;
· more delays in settling portfolio transactions and heightened risk of loss from share registration and custody practices; and
· less assurance that when favorable economic developments occur, they will not be slowed or reversed by unanticipated economic, political or social events in such countries.
Because of the above factors, the Fund's investments in emerging market issuers may be subject to greater price volatility and illiquidity than investments in developed markets.
Regional
The Fund will invest in specific countries or geographic regions to approximately the same extent as the Underlying Index. To the extent that the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in a specific geographic region or a particular country, the Fund will generally have more exposure to the specific regional or country economic risks. In the event of economic or political turmoil or a deterioration of diplomatic relations in a region or country where a substantial portion of the Fund's assets are invested, the Fund may experience substantial illiquidity or reduction in the value of the Fund's investments. Adverse conditions in a certain region or country can also adversely affect securities of issuers in other countries whose economies appear to be unrelated.The risk of investments in Europe may be heightened due to the January 31, 2020 departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU) and resulting uncertainty about the economic effects of the departure, which may cause increased market volatility.
Chinese Securities. Investments in securities of Chinese issuers involve risks that are specific to China, including certain legal, regulatory, political and economic risks, as well as risks associated with currency fluctuations, less liquidity, expropriation, confiscatory taxation, nationalization and exchange control regulations (including currency blockage). Inflation and rapid fluctuations in inflation and interest rates have had, and may continue to have, negative effects on the economy and securities markets of China. China is deemed by the investment manager to be an emerging markets country, which means an investment in this country has more heightened risks than general foreign investing due to a lack of established legal, political, business and social frameworks and accounting standards or auditor oversight in the country to support securities markets as well
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as the possibility for more widespread corruption and fraud. In addition, the standards for environmental, social and corporate governance matters in China tend to be lower than such standards in more developed economies. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies located in or operating in China and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.
With respect to the Fund’s investments in eligible China A-Shares through Stock Connect, the Fund will be subject to Chinese securities regulations and the listing rules of the respective stock exchange. Such securities generally may not be sold, purchased or otherwise transferred other than through Stock Connect. Although Stock Connect is not subject to individual investment quotas, daily and aggregate investment quotas apply to all Stock Connect participants, which may restrict or preclude the Fund’s ability to invest in eligible China A-Shares. For example, an investor cannot purchase and sell the same security on the same trading day. Trading in the Stock Connect program is subject to trading, clearance and settlement procedures that are untested in China, and the withholding tax treatment of dividends and capital gains payable to overseas investors is currently unsettled. The application and interpretation of the laws and regulations published or applied by relevant regulators and exchanges with respect to the Stock Connect program are uncertain, and they may have a detrimental effect on the Fund’s investments and returns. The foregoing may result in increased index tracking error.
Currency Hedging
In seeking investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, the Fund will attempt to hedge the currency exposure of non-U.S. dollar denominated securities held in its portfolio by investing in foreign currency forward contracts and/or currency futures contracts. While this approach is designed to minimize the impact of currency fluctuations on Fund returns, it does not necessarily eliminate the Fund’s exposure to the component currencies. The return of the foreign currency forward contracts and currency futures contracts will not perfectly offset the actual fluctuations between the component currencies and the U.S. dollar. While currency hedging can reduce or eliminate losses due to exchange rate changes, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and the Fund bears additional transaction costs in entering into and closing out of derivative positions. Currency hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative instruments and the currencies that the derivative instruments intend to hedge, and there can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective.
Foreign currency forward contracts and currency futures contracts do not eliminate movements in the value of non-U.S. currencies and securities. Exchange rates may be volatile and may change quickly and unpredictably in response to both global
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economic developments and economic conditions in a geographic region in which the Fund invests. In addition, the Fund’s exposure to the component currencies may not be fully hedged at all times.
Because the Fund’s currency hedge is generally reset on a monthly basis, currency risk can develop or increase intra-month. Furthermore, while the Fund is designed to hedge against currency fluctuations, it is possible that a degree of currency exposure may remain even at the time a hedging transaction is implemented. Also, governments from time to time intervene in the currency markets, directly and by regulation, in order to influence prices. From time to time, governments may adopt policies designed to directly influence foreign exchange rates with respect to their currency. As a result, the Fund may not be able to structure its hedging transactions as anticipated or its hedging transactions may not successfully reduce the currency risk included in the Fund’s portfolio in a way that tracks the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index.
There is no assurance that the Fund’s hedging strategy will be effective in hedging fluctuations in the value of the non-U.S. currencies of the Fund’s portfolio securities against the U.S. dollar. The effectiveness of the Fund’s currency hedging strategy will in general be affected by the volatility of both the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index and the volatility of the U.S. dollar relative to the currencies being hedged, measured on an aggregate basis. Increased volatility will generally reduce the effectiveness of the Fund’s currency hedging strategy. In addition, volatility in one or more currencies may offset stability in another currency and reduce the overall effectiveness of the Fund’s currency hedging strategy. The effectiveness of the Fund’s currency hedging strategy may also in general be affected by interest rates, which may differ among the affected countries. Significant differences between U.S. dollar interest rates and some or all of the applicable foreign currency interest rates may impact the effectiveness of the Fund’s currency hedging strategy. In addition, the currency hedging carried out by the Fund may result in lower returns than those generated through direct investments in the securities comprising the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index when the local currency appreciates against the U.S. dollar. In addition, the Fund’s currency hedging activities may involve frequent trading of currency instruments, which may increase transaction costs and cause the Fund’s return to deviate from the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index.
Investors seeking to trade in foreign currencies may have limited access to certain currency markets due to a variety of factors, including government regulations, adverse tax treatment, exchange controls, currency convertibility issues and lack of market liquidity. These limitations and restrictions may impact the availability, liquidity and pricing of the financial instruments that are necessary for the Fund to hedge exposure to the currency markets. If the Fund’s ability to enter into contracts
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to purchase or sell the currency of a non-U.S. market in which the Fund invests is impaired, the Fund may not be able to achieve its investment goal.
Derivative Instruments
The performance of derivative instruments (including currency derivatives) depends largely on the performance of an underlying instrument, such as a currency, security, interest rate or index, and such instruments often have risks similar to the underlying instrument, in addition to other risks. Derivative instruments involve costs and can create economic leverage in the Fund’s portfolio which may result in significant volatility and cause the Fund to participate in losses (as well as gains) in an amount that significantly exceeds the Fund’s initial investment. Other risks include illiquidity, mispricing or improper valuation of the derivative instrument, and imperfect correlation between the value of the derivative and the underlying instrument so that the Fund may not realize the intended benefits. Their successful use will usually depend on the investment manager’s ability to accurately forecast movements in the market relating to the underlying instrument. Should a market or markets, or prices of particular classes of investments move in an unexpected manner, especially in unusual or extreme market conditions, the Fund may not realize the anticipated benefits of the transaction, and it may realize losses, which could be significant. If the investment manager is not successful in using such derivative instruments, the Fund’s performance may be worse than if the investment manager did not use such derivative instruments at all. When a derivative is used for hedging, the change in value of the derivative instrument also may not correlate specifically with the currency, security, interest rate, index or other risk being hedged. There is also the risk, especially under extreme market conditions, that an instrument, which usually would operate as a hedge, provides no hedging benefits at all.
Use of these instruments could also result in a loss if the counterparty to the transaction does not perform as promised, including because of such counterparty’s bankruptcy or insolvency. This risk is heightened with respect to over-the-counter (OTC) instruments, such as certain swap agreements and currency forwards, and may be greater during volatile market conditions. Other risks include the inability to close out a position because the trading market becomes illiquid (particularly in the OTC markets) or the availability of counterparties becomes limited for a period of time. In addition, the presence of speculators in a particular market could lead to price distortions. To the extent that the Fund is unable to close out a position because of market illiquidity, the Fund may not be able to prevent further losses of value in its derivatives holdings and the Fund’s liquidity may be impaired to the extent that it has a substantial portion of its otherwise liquid assets marked as segregated to cover its obligations under such derivative instruments. Some derivatives can be particularly sensitive to changes in interest rates or other market prices. Investors should bear in mind that, while the
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Fund intends to use derivative strategies on a regular basis, it is not obligated to actively engage in these transactions, generally or in any particular kind of derivative, if the investment manager elects not to do so due to availability, cost or other factors.
Certain types of derivatives require the Fund to post margin or collateral or otherwise maintain liquid assets in a manner that satisfies contractual undertakings and regulatory requirements. In order to satisfy margin or other requirements, the Fund may need to sell securities from its portfolio or exit positions at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.
The use of derivative strategies may also have a tax impact on the Fund. The timing and character of income, gains or losses from these strategies could impair the ability of the investment manager to use derivatives when it wishes to do so.
Depositary Receipts
Depositary receipts are subject to many of the risks of the underlying security. For some depositary receipts, the custodian or similar financial institution that holds the issuer's shares in a trust account is located in the issuer's home country. The Fund could be exposed to the credit risk of the custodian or financial institution, and in cases where the issuer’s home country does not have developed financial markets, greater market risk. In addition, the depository institution may not have physical custody of the underlying securities at all times and may charge fees for various services, including forwarding dividends and interest and corporate actions. The Fund would be expected to pay a share of the additional fees, which it would not pay if investing directly in the foreign securities. The Fund may experience delays in receiving its dividend and interest payments or exercising rights as a shareholder.
Dividend-Oriented Companies
Issuers that have paid regular dividends or distributions to shareholders may not continue to do so in the future. An issuer may reduce or eliminate future dividends or distributions at any time and for any reason. The value of a security of an issuer that has paid dividends in the past may decrease if the issuer reduces or eliminates future payments to its shareholders. If the dividends or distributions received by the Fund decreases, the Fund may have less income to distribute to the Fund's shareholders.
Indexing
Passive Investment. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. The investment manager generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
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Calculation Methodology. The Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Underlying Index (or the MSCI index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the Underlying Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Underlying Index Errors. There is no assurance that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While MSCI provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, MSCI does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index’s other constituents. As such, errors may result in a negative or positive performance impact to the Fund and its shareholders. Shareholders should understand that losses resulting from errors may be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the Underlying Index for that security.
Tracking Error. Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index (including the inability of the Fund to purchase certain securities included in the Underlying Index due to regulatory or other restrictions), pricing differences (including differences between a security’s price at the local market close and the Fund’s valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s NAV), transaction and hedging costs and forward rates achieved, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not, and because the Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF accepts creations and redemptions during time periods between which it is able to
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adjust its currency hedges, whereas the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index does not adjust its hedging during these periods.
Certain derivative instruments used by the Fund may require the Fund to post margin or collateral or otherwise maintain liquid assets in a manner that satisfies contractual undertakings and regulatory requirements. As a result of such requirements, the Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF may not be able to enter into derivative instruments to the extent needed to fully replicate the hedge impact incorporated in the calculation of the International Equity Hedged Underlying Index, which is not subject to these limitations. The Fund may also need to hold cash, which may include raising cash by selling securities and/or obtaining cash through other arrangements, in order to meet margin requirements, which may, among other potential consequences, cause increased index tracking error. Under certain circumstances, the Fund may be required to unwind its currency hedge, sell a portfolio security or exit a position intra-month or otherwise at a disadvantageous time or price, which could cause the Fund to experience a loss and/or incur increased transaction costs.
Authorized Participant Concentration
Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Market Trading
Absence of active market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained. There are no obligations of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of an Authorized Participant to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. Decisions by market makers or Authorized Participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a premium or discount to its NAV and also greater than normal intraday bid/ask spreads. Additionally, in stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the Fund’s portfolio
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holdings, which may cause a significant variance in the market price of the Fund’s shares and their underlying value.
Secondary listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts.
The Fund’s shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.
Secondary market trading. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.
There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on a stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market, or that such requirements will remain unchanged. Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules on the stock exchange or market.
During a “flash crash,” the market prices of the Fund’s shares may decline suddenly and significantly. Such a decline may not reflect the performance of the portfolio securities held by the Fund. Flash crashes may cause Authorized Participants and other market makers to limit or cease trading in the Fund’s shares for temporary or longer periods. Shareholders could suffer significant losses to the extent that they sell shares at these temporarily low market prices.
Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility associated with short selling.
Premium/Discount. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices other than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below their most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business
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day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings since the most recent calculation. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares fluctuate continuously throughout trading hours based on market supply and demand rather than NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility.
Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, the investment manager believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long-term. While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it likely that the Fund’s shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund’s next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund’s NAV due to timing reasons as well as market supply and demand factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions or extreme market volatility may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV.
Cost of buying or selling Fund shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,” that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the “ask” price). Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Concentration
To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Financial services companies (Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF) Financial services companies are subject to extensive government regulation that may affect their profitability in many
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ways, including by limiting the amount and types of loans and other commitments they can make, and the interest rates and fees they can charge. A financial services company's profitability, and therefore its stock prices, is especially sensitive to interest rate changes as well as the ability of borrowers to repay their loans. Changing regulations, continuing consolidations, and development of new products and structures all are likely to have a significant impact on financial services companies.
Materials companies (Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF) Companies in the materials sector may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, exchange rates, import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources, technical advances, labor relations, over-production, litigation and government regulations, among other factors. Companies in the materials sector are also at risk of liability for environmental damage and product liability claims. Production of materials may exceed demand as a result of market imbalances or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns.
Technology companies (Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF) The technology sector has historically been volatile due to the rapid pace of product change and development within the sector. For example, their products and services may not prove commercially successful or may become obsolete quickly. In addition, delays in or cancellation of the release of anticipated products or services may also affect the price of a technology company’s stock. Technology companies are subject to significant competitive pressures, such as new market entrants, aggressive pricing and tight profit margins. The activities of these companies may also be adversely affected by changes in government regulations, worldwide technological developments or investor perception of a company and/or its products or services. The stock prices of companies operating within this sector may be subject to abrupt or erratic movements.
Healthcare companies (Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF) The activities of healthcare companies may be funded or subsidized by federal and state governments. If government funding and subsidies are reduced or discontinued, the profitability of these companies could be adversely affected. Healthcare companies may also be affected by government policies on healthcare reimbursements, regulatory approval for new drugs and medical products, and similar matters. They are also subject to legislative risk, i.e., the risks associated with the reform of the healthcare system through legislation.
Mid Capitalization Companies
While mid capitalization companies may offer substantial opportunities for capital growth, they also may involve additional risks. Historically, mid capitalization company securities have been more volatile in price than larger company
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securities, especially over the short term. Among the reasons for the greater price volatility are the less certain growth prospects of mid capitalization companies, the lower degree of liquidity in the markets for such securities, and the greater sensitivity of mid capitalization companies to changing economic conditions.
In addition, mid capitalization companies may lack depth of management, be unable to generate funds necessary for growth or development, have limited product lines or be developing or marketing new products or services for which markets are not yet established and may never become established. Mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying any loans, particularly those with floating interest rates.
Representative Sampling
The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy will result in its holding a smaller number of securities than are in the Underlying Index or in the Fund holding securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, an adverse development respecting an issuer of securities held by the Fund could result in a greater decline in the Fund’s NAV than would be the case if all of the securities in the Underlying Index were held. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the Underlying Index.
Cash Transactions
ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gain on the distributed portfolio securities at the Fund level. To the extent that the Fund effects redemptions partly or entirely in cash, rather than in-kind, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its shares principally in-kind, could be imposed on the Fund and thus decrease the Fund's NAV to the extent they are not offset by the creation
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and redemption transaction fees paid by purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units.
International Closed Market Trading
To the extent that the underlying securities held by the Fund trade on an exchange that is closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund shares list and trade is open, there may be market uncertainty about the stale security pricing (i.e., the last quote from its closed foreign market) resulting in premiums or discounts to NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.
Small Fund
When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. In addition, any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
Large Shareholder
Certain large shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment. Dispositions of a large number of shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund’s liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed directly with the Fund in the form of redemptions through an authorized participant, rather than executed in the secondary market. These redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund’s NAV and increase the Fund’s brokerage costs. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF and Franklin
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LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF (collectively, the "U.S. Funds")
The investment goal of each Fund is to seek to provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Fund's corresponding underlying index (each an “Underlying Index” and, collectively, the “Underlying Indexes”). Each Fund's investment goal is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed by the Board of Trustees without shareholder approval. Shareholders will be given at least 60 days' advance notice of any change to a Fund's investment goal.
Principal Investment Policies and Practices
Under normal market conditions, each Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in the component securities of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index. Each Underlying Index is a systematic, rules-based proprietary index maintained and calculated by FTSE Russell.
The U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index is based on the Russell 1000® Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The Russell 1000® Index is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index and is designed to measure the performance of large capitalization stocks in the United States. As of May 31, 2021, the Russell 1000® Index represented approximately 93% of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000® Index. It includes approximately 1,000 of the largest issuers based on a combination of their market cap and current index membership. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Large Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 255 securities with capitalizations ranging from $865 million to $2.08 trillion.
The U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index is based on the Russell Midcap® Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The Russell Midcap® Index is a subset of the Russell 1000® Index and is designed to measure the performance of mid-capitalization stocks in the United States. It includes approximately 800 of the smallest issuers in the Russell 1000® Index. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Mid Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 205 securities with capitalizations ranging from $370 million to $92.67 billion.
The U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index is based on the Russell 2000® Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. The Russell 2000® Index is a subset of the Russell 3000® Index and is designed to measure the performance of small capitalization
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stocks in the United States. It includes approximately 2000 of the smallest issuers in the Russell 3000® Index. As of May 31, 2021, the U.S. Small Cap Underlying Index was comprised of 500 securities with capitalizations ranging from $1 million to $20.73 billion.
Each Underlying Index seeks to achieve a lower level of risk and higher risk-adjusted performance than the FTSE Russell index on which it is based over the long term by applying a multi-factor selection process, which is designed to select equity securities from such FTSE Russell index that have favorable exposure to four investment style factors – quality, value, momentum and low volatility. Factors are common characteristics that relate to a group of issuers or securities that are important in explaining the returns and risks of those issuers’ securities.
At the time of each semi-annual reconstitution of each Underlying Index, no company shall comprise more than 1% of the Underlying Index. Each Underlying Index is also constrained in its construction to limit turnover of constituent securities at each semi-annual reconstitution.
An equity security, or stock, represents a proportionate share, or the right to acquire a proportionate share, of the ownership of a company; its value is based on the success of the company’s business and the value of its assets, as well as general market conditions. Common stocks and preferred stocks are examples of equity securities.
The Fund, using a “passive” or indexing investment approach, seeks investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to the performance of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index. The investment manager seeks to achieve, over time, a correlation between the Fund’s performance, before fees and expenses, and that of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index of 0.95 or better. A figure of 1.00 would indicate perfect correlation. The Fund may use either a replication strategy or representative sampling strategy. Under a replication strategy, the Fund will replicate the component securities of its corresponding Underlying Index as closely as possible (i.e., invest in all of the component securities in their respective weightings in the Fund's corresponding Underlying Index). However, under various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to replicate the Underlying Index. In these circumstances, the Fund may use a “representative sampling” strategy whereby the Fund would invest in what it believes to be a representative sample of the component securities of its corresponding Underlying Index, but may not track the Underlying Index with the same degree of accuracy as would an investment vehicle replicating the entire Underlying Index. Under the representative sampling technique, the investment manager will select securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index, including securities that resemble those included in the Underlying Index in terms of risk factors, performance attributes and other characteristics, such as market capitalization and
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industry weightings. The Fund’s portfolio is reconstituted semi-annually following the semi-annual reconstitution of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index. Between these semi-annual reconstitutions, a component security will be removed from the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index if such security is removed from the FTSE Russell index on which it is based. When securities are removed from the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index for any reason, the investment manager generally will, but is not required to, sell such securities from the Fund’s portfolio.
Concentration
Each U.S. Fund (hereafter the “Fund”) will concentrate its investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its net assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that its corresponding Underlying Index is concentrated. The investment manager has adopted firewall procedures that are expected to limit the investment manager’s freedom of action to concentrate the Fund’s assets in a particular industry pursuant to management’s discretion except in accordance with the rules-based methodology of the Fund’s corresponding Underlying Index.
Market
The market values of securities or other investments owned by the Fund will go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The Fund’s investments may decline in value due to factors affecting individual issuers (such as the results of supply and demand), or sectors within the securities markets. The value of a security or other investment also may go up or down due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular issuer, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in interest rates or exchange rates, or adverse investor sentiment generally. In addition, unexpected events and their aftermaths, such as the spread of diseases; natural, environmental or man-made disasters; financial, political or social disruptions; terrorism and war; and other tragedies or catastrophes, can cause investor fear and panic, which can adversely affect the economies of many companies, sectors, nations, regions and the market in general, in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value. When markets perform well, there can be no assurance that securities or other investments held by the Fund will participate in or otherwise benefit from the advance.
The current global outbreak of the novel strain of coronavirus, COVID-19, has resulted in market closures and dislocations, extreme volatility, liquidity constraints and increased trading costs. Efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in global travel restrictions and disruptions of healthcare systems, business operations and supply chains, layoffs, reduced consumer demand, defaults and credit ratings downgrades, and other significant economic impacts.
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The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted global economic activity across many industries and may heighten other pre-existing political, social and economic risks, locally or globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and other epidemics and pandemics that may arise in the future, on national and global economies, individual companies and the financial markets is unpredictable, may result in a high degree of uncertainty for potentially extended periods of time and may adversely affect the Fund’s performance.
Stock prices tend to go up and down more dramatically than those of debt securities. A slower-growth or recessionary economic environment could have an adverse effect on the prices of the various stocks held by the Fund.
Investment Style Factors
There can be no assurance that the multi-factor stock selection process of the Underlying Index will enhance performance. Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods. There is no guarantee the index provider’s methodology will be successful in creating an index that achieves exposure to such investment factors.
Small and Mid Capitalization Companies
While small and mid capitalization companies may offer substantial opportunities for capital growth, they also may involve more risks than larger capitalization companies. Historically, small and mid capitalization company securities have been more volatile in price than larger company securities, especially over the short term. Among the reasons for the greater price volatility are the less certain growth prospects of small and mid capitalization companies, the lower degree of liquidity in the markets for such securities, and the greater sensitivity of small and mid capitalization companies to changing economic conditions.
In addition, small and mid capitalization companies may lack depth of management, be unable to generate funds necessary for growth or development, have limited product lines or be developing or marketing new products or services for which markets are not yet established and may never become established. Small and mid capitalization companies may be particularly affected by interest rate increases, as they may find it more difficult to borrow money to continue or expand operations, or may have difficulty in repaying loans, particularly those with floating interest rates.
Indexing
Passive Investment. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. The investment manager generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
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Calculation Methodology. The Underlying Index relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of issuers included in the Underlying Index (or the FTSE Russell index on which it is based), including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor the investment manager can offer assurances that the Underlying Index’s calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included issuers or that the included issuers will provide the Fund with the market exposure it seeks.
Underlying Index Errors. There is no assurance that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While FTSE Russell provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, FTSE Russell does not guarantee the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in respect of its indices, and does not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the described index methodology. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index’s other constituents. As such, errors may result in a negative or positive performance impact to the Fund and its shareholders. Shareholders should understand that losses resulting from errors may be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.
Non-Correlation. There is no guarantee that the Fund will achieve a high degree of correlation to the Underlying Index and therefore achieve its investment goal. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. In addition, the Fund’s NAV may deviate from the Underlying Index if the Fund fair values a portfolio security at a price other than the price used by the Underlying Index for that security.
Tracking Error Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of cash, differences in timing of the accrual of dividends or interest, tax gains or losses, changes to the Underlying Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not.
Authorized Participant Concentration
Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that act as Authorized Participants. To the extent that these institutions exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or
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redeem Creation Units (as defined below), Fund shares may trade at a discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts and/or delisting. This risk may be more pronounced in volatile markets, potentially where there are significant redemptions in ETFs generally.
Market Trading
Absence of active market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained. There are no obligations of market makers to make a market in the Fund’s shares or of an Authorized Participant to submit purchase or redemption orders for Creation Units. Decisions by market makers or Authorized Participants to reduce their role or step away from these activities in times of market stress could inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the relationship between the underlying value of the Fund’s portfolio securities and the Fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in Fund shares trading at a premium or discount to its NAV and also greater than normal intraday bid/ask spreads. Additionally, in stressed market conditions, the market for the Fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the Fund’s portfolio holdings, which may cause a significant variance in the market price of the Fund’s shares and their underlying value.
Secondary listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts.
The Fund’s shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.
Secondary market trading. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.
There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on a stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market, or that such
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requirements will remain unchanged. Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to “circuit breaker” rules on the stock exchange or market.
During a “flash crash,” the market prices of the Fund’s shares may decline suddenly and significantly. Such a decline may not reflect the performance of the portfolio securities held by the Fund. Flash crashes may cause Authorized Participants and other market makers to limit or cease trading in the Fund’s shares for temporary or longer periods. Shareholders could suffer significant losses to the extent that they sell shares at these temporarily low market prices.
Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility associated with short selling.
Premium/Discount. Shares of the Fund may trade at prices other than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below their most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund’s holdings since the most recent calculation. The trading prices of the Fund’s shares fluctuate continuously throughout trading hours based on market supply and demand rather than NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund’s shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility.
Any of these factors, among others, may lead to the Fund’s shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV. Thus, you may pay more (or less) than NAV when you buy shares of the Fund in the secondary market, and you may receive less (or more) than NAV when you sell those shares in the secondary market. The investment manager cannot predict whether shares will trade above (premium), below (discount) or at NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, the investment manager believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long-term. While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it likely that the Fund’s shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund’s next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund’s NAV due to timing reasons as well as market supply and demand factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions or extreme market volatility may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV.
Cost of buying or selling Fund shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a
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brokerage commission or other charges imposed by brokers as determined by that broker. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,” that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the “ask” price). Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments.
Concentration
To the extent the Fund concentrates in a specific industry, a group of industries, sector or type of investment, the Fund will carry much greater risks of adverse developments and price movements in such industries, sectors or investments than a fund that invests in a wider variety of industries, sectors or investments. There is also the risk that the Fund will perform poorly during a slump in demand for securities of companies in such industries or sectors.
Consumer discretionary companies (Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF) Companies in the consumer discretionary sector could be affected by, among other things, overall economic conditions, interest rates, consumer confidence, and disposable income.
Industrials companies (Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF) The stock prices of companies in the industrials sector are affected by supply and demand both for their specific product or service and for industrials sector products in general. Companies in the industrials sector may be adversely affected by changes in government regulation, world events and economic conditions. In addition, these companies are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims. Companies in this sector could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, imposition of export or import controls, increased competition, depletion of resources, technological developments and labor relations.
Technology companies (Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF) The technology sector has historically been volatile due to the rapid pace of product change and development within the sector. For example, their products and services may not prove commercially successful or may become obsolete quickly. In addition, delays in or cancellation of the release of anticipated products or services may also affect the price of a technology company’s stock. Technology companies are subject to significant competitive pressures, such as new market entrants, aggressive pricing and tight profit margins. The activities of these companies may also be adversely affected by changes in government regulations, worldwide technological developments or investor perception of a company and/or its products or services. The stock prices
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of companies operating within this sector may be subject to abrupt or erratic movements.
Representative Sampling
The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy will result in its holding a smaller number of securities than are in the Underlying Index or in the Fund holding securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, an adverse development respecting an issuer of securities held by the Fund could result in a greater decline in the Fund’s NAV than would be the case if all of the securities in the Underlying Index were held. To the extent that the investment manager uses a representative sampling strategy, the Fund may not track the return of the Underlying Index as well as it would have if the Fund held all of the securities in the Underlying Index.
Cash Transactions
ETFs generally are able to make in-kind redemptions and avoid being taxed on gain on the distributed portfolio securities at the Fund level. To the extent that the Fund effects redemptions partly or entirely in cash, rather than in-kind, it may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. If the Fund recognizes gain on these sales, this generally will cause the Fund to recognize gain it might not otherwise have recognized, or to recognize such gain sooner than would otherwise be required if it were to distribute portfolio securities in-kind. The Fund generally intends to distribute these gains to shareholders to avoid being taxed on this gain at the Fund level and otherwise comply with the special tax rules that apply to it. This strategy may cause shareholders to be subject to tax on gains they would not otherwise be subject to, or at an earlier date than, if they had made an investment in a different ETF. Moreover, cash transactions may have to be carried out over several days if the securities market is relatively illiquid and may involve considerable brokerage fees and taxes. These brokerage fees and taxes, which will be higher than if the Fund sold and redeemed its shares principally in-kind, could be imposed on the Fund and thus decrease the Fund's NAV to the extent they are not offset by the creation and redemption transaction fees paid by purchasers and redeemers of Creation Units.
Small Fund
When the Fund’s size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. In addition, any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.
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Large Shareholder
Certain large shareholders, including other funds or accounts advised by the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, may from time to time own a substantial amount of the Fund’s shares. In addition, a third party investor, the investment manager or an affiliate of the investment manager, an authorized participant, a lead market maker, or another entity may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a limited period of time solely to facilitate commencement of the Fund or to facilitate the Fund’s achieving a specified size or scale. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder would not redeem its investment. Dispositions of a large number of shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund’s liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed directly with the Fund in the form of redemptions through an authorized participant, rather than executed in the secondary market. These redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund’s NAV and increase the Fund’s brokerage costs. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume on the listing exchange and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the shares.
More Information on Investment Policies, Practices and Risks
Exclusion of Investment Manager from Commodity Pool Operator Definition
With respect to each Fund (hereafter the "Fund"), the investment manager has claimed an exclusion from the definition of “commodity pool operator” (CPO) under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and, therefore, is not subject to CFTC registration or regulation as a CPO. In addition, with respect to the Fund, the investment manager is relying upon a related exclusion from the definition of “commodity trading advisor” (CTA) under the CEA and the rules of the CFTC.
The terms of the CPO exclusion require the Fund, among other things, to adhere to certain limits on its investments in commodity futures, commodity options and swaps, which in turn include non-deliverable currency forward contracts, as further described in the Fund’s Statement of Additional Information (SAI). Because the investment manager and the Fund intend to comply with the terms of the CPO exclusion, the Fund may, in the future, need to adjust its investment strategies, consistent with its investment goal(s), to limit its investments in these types of instruments. The Fund is not intended as a vehicle for trading in the commodity
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futures, commodity options, or swaps markets. The CFTC has neither reviewed nor approved the investment manager’s reliance on these exclusions, or the Fund, its investment strategies or this prospectus.
More detailed information about the Fund and its policies and risks can be found in the Fund's SAI.
A description of the Fund's policies and procedures regarding the release of portfolio holdings information is also available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Franklin Advisory Services, LLC (Advisory Services), One Franklin Parkway, San Mateo, CA 94403-1906, is the Fund's investment manager. Advisory Services is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. Together, Advisory Services and its affiliates manage, as of June 30, 2021, over $1.55 trillion in assets, and have been in the investment management business since 1947.
The Fund is managed by a team of dedicated professionals. The portfolio managers of the team are as follows:
Dina Ting, CFA Senior Vice President of Advisory Services
Ms. Ting has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since inception. She joined Franklin Templeton in 2015. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, she was a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock.
Hailey Harris Vice President of Advisory Services
Ms. Harris has been a portfolio manager of the Fund since 2019. She joined Franklin Templeton in 2018. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, she was an ETF portfolio manager at Global X Funds and a Senior Portfolio Analyst at ProShares.
Mses. Ting and Harris are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund's portfolio. Each manager has equal authority over all aspects of the Funds' investment portfolio, including but not limited to, purchases and sales of individual securities, portfolio risk assessment, and the management of daily cash balances in accordance with anticipated investment management requirements. The degree to which each portfolio manager may perform these functions, and the nature of these functions, may change from time to time.
CFA® and Chartered Financial Analyst® are trademarks owned by CFA Institute.
The Fund’s SAI provides additional information about portfolio manager compensation, other accounts that they manage and their ownership of Fund shares.
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The Fund pays Advisory Services a unified management fee for managing the Fund’s assets. Pursuant to the investment management agreement with Franklin Templeton ETF Trust (Trust) on behalf of the Fund, Advisory Services reimburses the Fund for all acquired fund fees and expenses (such as those associated with the Fund's investment in a Franklin Templeton money fund) and pays all of the ordinary operating expenses of the Fund, except for (i) the Fund’s management fee, (ii) payments under the Fund’s Rule 12b-1 plan (if any), (iii) brokerage expenses (including any costs incidental to transactions in portfolio securities or instruments), (iv) taxes, (v) interest (including borrowing costs and dividend expenses on securities sold short and overdraft charges), (vi) litigation expenses (including litigation to which the Trust or the Fund may be a party and indemnification of the Trustees and officers with respect thereto), and (vii) other non-routine or extraordinary expenses. The fee is equal to the following annual rate of the average daily net assets of the Fund:
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Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF |
0.40% |
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0.45% |
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Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF |
0.45% |
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Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF |
0.35% |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF |
0.15% |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF |
0.30% |
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Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF |
0.35% |
The investment manager reimburses the Fund for all acquired fund fees and expenses. As a result, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021, the Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF paid the investment manager a management fee equal to the annual rate of 0.34% of the average daily net assets of the Fund.
A discussion regarding the basis for the board of trustees approving the investment management contract of the Fund is available in the Fund's semi-annual report to shareholders for the fiscal period ended September 30.
Manager of Managers Structure
The investment manager and the Trust have received an exemptive order from the SEC that allows the Fund to operate in a “manager of managers” structure whereby the investment manager can appoint and replace both wholly-owned and unaffiliated sub-advisors, and enter into, amend and terminate sub-advisory agreements with such sub-advisors, each subject to board approval but without obtaining prior shareholder approval (Manager of Managers Structure). The Fund will, however, inform shareholders of the hiring of any new sub-advisor within 90
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days after the hiring. The SEC exemptive order provides the Fund with greater flexibility and efficiency by preventing the Fund from incurring the expense and delays associated with obtaining shareholder approval of such sub-advisory agreements.
The use of the Manager of Managers Structure with respect to the Fund is subject to certain conditions that are set forth in the SEC exemptive order. Under the Manager of Managers Structure, the investment manager has the ultimate responsibility, subject to oversight by the Fund’s board of trustees, to oversee sub-advisors and recommend their hiring, termination and replacement. The investment manager will also, subject to the review and approval of the Fund’s board of trustees: set the Fund’s overall investment strategy; evaluate, select and recommend sub-advisors to manage all or a portion of the Fund’s assets; and implement procedures reasonably designed to ensure that each sub-advisor complies with the Fund’s investment goal, policies and restrictions. Subject to review by the Fund’s board of trustees, the investment manager will allocate and, when appropriate, reallocate the Fund’s assets among sub-advisors and monitor and evaluate the sub-advisors’ performance.
The information is provided with respect to each Fund (hereafter the “Fund").
Income and Capital Gain Distributions
As a regulated investment company, the Fund generally pays no federal income tax on the income and gains it distributes to you. The Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF intend to pay income dividends at least semi-annually from its net investment income. Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF intend to pay income dividends at least quarterly from its net investment income. Capital gains, if any, may be paid by each Fund at least annually. The Fund may distribute income dividends and capital gains more frequently, if necessary, in order to reduce or eliminate federal excise or income taxes on the Fund. The amount of any distribution will vary, and there is no guarantee the Fund will pay either income dividends or capital gain distributions. Distributions in cash may be reinvested automatically in additional whole Fund shares only if the broker through whom you purchased the shares makes such option available.
Annual statements. After the close of each calendar year, you will receive tax information from the broker with respect to the federal income tax treatment of the Fund’s distributions and any taxable sales of Fund shares occurring during the prior calendar year. You may receive revised tax information if the Fund must reclassify its distributions or the broker must adjust the cost basis of any covered shares sold
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after you receive your tax information. Distributions declared in December to shareholders of record in such month and paid in January are taxable as if they were paid in December. Additional tax information about the Fund’s distributions is available at franklintempleton.com.
Avoid "buying a dividend." At the time you purchase your Fund shares, the price of the shares may reflect undistributed income, undistributed capital gains, or net unrealized appreciation in the value of the portfolio securities held by the Fund. For taxable investors, a subsequent distribution to you of such amounts, although constituting a return of your investment, would be taxable. Buying shares in the Fund just before it declares an income dividend or capital gain distribution is sometimes known as “buying a dividend.”
Tax Considerations
If you are a taxable investor, Fund distributions are generally taxable to you as ordinary income, capital gains or some combination of both. This is the case whether you reinvest your distributions in additional Fund shares or receive them in cash.
Dividend income. Income dividends are generally subject to tax at ordinary rates. Income dividends reported by the Fund as qualified dividend income may be subject to tax by individuals at reduced long-term capital gains tax rates provided certain holding period requirements are met. A return-of-capital distribution is generally not taxable but will reduce the cost basis of your shares, and will result in a higher capital gain or a lower capital loss when you later sell your shares.
Capital gains. Fund distributions of short-term capital gains are also subject to tax at ordinary rates. Fund distributions of long-term capital gains are taxable at the reduced long-term capital gains rates no matter how long you have owned your Fund shares. For single individuals with taxable income not in excess of $40,400 in 2021 ($80,800 for married individuals filing jointly), the long-term capital gains tax rate is 0%. For single individuals and joint filers with taxable income in excess of these amounts but not more than $445,850 or $501,600, respectively, the long-term capital gains tax rate is 15%. The rate is 20% for single individuals with taxable income in excess of $445,850 and married individuals filing jointly with taxable income in excess of $501,600. An additional 3.8% Medicare tax may also be imposed as discussed below.
Sales of exchange-listed shares. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized on the sale of Fund shares generally is treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year and as short-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for one year or less.
Cost basis reporting. Contact the broker through whom you purchased your Fund shares to obtain information with respect to the available cost basis reporting methods and elections for your account.
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Taxes on creation and redemption of creation units. An Authorized Participant who exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or loss. The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the Creation Units at the time of purchase and the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered plus any cash paid for the Creation Units. An Authorized Participant who exchanges Creation Units for securities will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the aggregate market value of the securities and the amount of cash received. The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position. Authorized Participants exchanging securities should consult their own tax advisor with respect to whether wash sale rules apply and when a loss might be deductible.
Authorized Participants that create or redeem Creation Units will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many shares they purchased or sold and at what price.
Under current federal tax laws, any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption of Creation Units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if the shares have been held for one year or less.
If the Fund redeems Creation Units in part or entirely in cash, it may recognize more capital gains than it will if it redeems Creation Units in-kind.
Medicare tax. An additional 3.8% Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary dividends and capital gain distributions received from the Fund and net gains from the sales of Fund shares) of U.S. individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income” (in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds a threshold amount. Any liability for this additional Medicare tax is reported on, and paid with, your federal income tax return.
Backup withholding. A shareholder may be subject to backup withholding on any distributions of income, capital gains, or proceeds from the sale of Fund shares if the shareholder has provided either an incorrect tax identification number or no number at all, is subject to backup withholding by the IRS for failure to properly report payments of interest or dividends, has failed to certify that the shareholder is not subject to backup withholding, or has not certified that the shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). The backup withholding rate is currently 24%. State backup withholding may also apply.
State, local and foreign taxes. Distributions of ordinary income and capital gains, and gains from the sale of your Fund shares, are generally subject to state and
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local taxes. If the Fund qualifies, it may elect to pass through to you as a foreign tax credit or deduction any foreign taxes that it pays on its investments.
Non-U.S. investors. Non-U.S. investors may be subject to U.S. withholding tax at 30% or a lower treaty rate on Fund dividends of ordinary income. Non-U.S. investors may be subject to U.S. estate tax on the value of their shares. They are subject to special U.S. tax certification requirements to avoid backup withholding, claim any exemptions from withholding and claim any treaty benefits. Exemptions from U.S. withholding tax are generally provided for capital gains realized on the sale of Fund shares, capital gain dividends paid by the Fund from net long-term capital gains, short-term capital gain dividends paid by the Fund from net short-term capital gains and interest-related dividends paid by the Fund from its qualified net interest income from U.S. sources. However, notwithstanding such exemptions from U.S. withholding tax at source, any such dividends and distributions of income and capital gains will be subject to backup withholding at a rate of 24% if you fail to properly certify that you are not a U.S. person.
Other reporting and withholding requirements. Payments to a shareholder that is either a foreign financial institution or a non-financial foreign entity within the meaning of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) may be subject to a 30% withholding tax on income dividends paid by the Fund. The FATCA withholding tax generally can be avoided by such foreign entity if it provides the broker, and in some cases, the IRS, information concerning the ownership of certain foreign financial accounts or other appropriate certifications or documentation concerning its status under FATCA. In order to comply with these requirements, information about a shareholder in the Fund may be disclosed to the IRS, non-U.S. taxing authorities or other parties as necessary to comply with FATCA.
Other tax information. This discussion of "Distributions and Taxes" is for general information only and is not tax advice. You should consult your own tax advisor regarding your particular circumstances, and about any federal, state, local and foreign tax consequences before making an investment in the Fund. Additional information about the tax consequences of investing in the Fund may be found in the SAI.
Non-U.S. Funds
Each Underlying Index is a custom index that is owned and calculated by MSCI, and is based on an MSCI Index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton’s desired investment strategy. Franklin Templeton Companies, LLC (FTC), an affiliate of Advisory Services, has entered into a license agreement with MSCI to use the Underlying Indexes. MSCI creates, compiles, maintains, calculates and publishes each Underlying Index based upon
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specifications, designs, screens and other instructions provided by FTC. Pursuant to an index sub-licensing agreement between FTC and Franklin Templeton ETF Trust, FTC provides the use of the Underlying Indexes and related intellectual property at no cost to the Franklin Templeton ETF Trust and the Funds.
U.S. Funds
Each Underlying Index is a custom index that is maintained and calculated by FTSE Russell, and is based on a FTSE Russell index using a methodology developed with Franklin Templeton to reflect Franklin Templeton's desired investment strategy. Franklin Templeton Companies, LLC (FTC), an affiliate of Advisory Services, has entered into a license agreement with FTSE Russell to use the Underlying Indexes. FTSE Russell creates, compiles, maintains, calculates and publishes each Underlying Index based upon specifications, designs, screens and other instructions provided by FTC. Pursuant to an index sub-licensing agreement between FTC and Franklin Templeton ETF Trust, FTC provides the use of the Underlying Indexes and related intellectual property at no cost to the Franklin Templeton ETF Trust and the Funds.
Non-U.S. Funds
MSCI
THE FUNDS ARE NOT SPONSORED, ENDORSED, SOLD OR PROMOTED BY MSCI INC. (MSCI), ANY OF ITS AFFILIATES, ANY OF ITS INFORMATION PROVIDERS OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY INVOLVED IN, OR RELATED TO, COMPILING, COMPUTING OR CREATING ANY MSCI INDEX (COLLECTIVELY, THE MSCI PARTIES). THE UNDERLYING INDEXES ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF MSCI. MSCI AND THE UNDERLYING INDEX NAMES ARE SERVICE MARK(S) OF MSCI OR ITS AFFILIATES AND HAVE BEEN LICENSED FOR USE FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES BY FRANKLIN TEMPLETON COMPANIES, LLC. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN FUNDS GENERALLY OR IN THE FUNDS PARTICULARLY OR THE ABILITY OF ANY UNDERLYING INDEX TO TRACK CORRESPONDING STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE. MSCI OR ITS AFFILIATES ARE THE LICENSORS OF CERTAIN TRADEMARKS, SERVICE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES AND OF THE UNDERLYING INDEXES WHICH ARE DETERMINED, COMPOSED AND CALCULATED BY MSCI WITHOUT REGARD TO THE FUNDS OR THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF THE ISSUER OR OWNERS
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OF THE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE UNDERLYING INDEXES. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OR HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE TIMING OF, PRICES AT, OR QUANTITIES OF THE FUNDS TO BE ISSUED OR IN THE DETERMINATION OR CALCULATION OF THE EQUATION BY OR THE CONSIDERATION INTO WHICH THE FUNDS ARE REDEEMABLE. FURTHER, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING OR OFFERING OF THE FUNDS.
ALTHOUGH MSCI SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE UNDERLYING INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT MSCI CONSIDERS RELIABLE, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES WARRANTS OR GUARANTEES THE ORIGINALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF ANY UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER OF THE FUNDS, OWNERS OF THE FUNDS, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, FROM THE USE OF ANY UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INTERRUPTIONS OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. FURTHER, NONE OF THE MSCI PARTIES MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND THE MSCI PARTIES HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO EACH UNDERLYING INDEX AND ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY OF THE MSCI PARTIES HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
No purchaser, seller or holder of this security, product or fund, or any other person or entity, should use or refer to any MSCI trade name, trademark or service mark in a manner that implies sponsorship or endorsement of this security without first contacting MSCI to determine whether MSCI’s permission is required. Under no circumstances may any person or entity claim any affiliation with MSCI without the prior written permission of MSCI.
|
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
U.S. Funds
FTSE Russell
The LibertyQ U.S. Large Cap Equity Index, LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity Index, and LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity Index are calculated and maintained by FTSE Russell which aims to reflect the performance of a corresponding Franklin Templeton strategy. The Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF, and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF are not in any way sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Russell or the London Stock Exchange Group companies (“LSEG”) (together the “Licensor Parties”) and none of the Licensor Parties make any claim, prediction, warranty or representation whatsoever, expressly or impliedly, either as to (i) the results to be obtained from the use of an Index (upon which the Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF, or Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF is based), (ii) the figure at which an Index is said to stand at any particular time on any particular day or otherwise, or (iii) the suitability of an Index for the purpose to which it is being put in connection with the Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF, or Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF. None of the Licensor Parties have provided or will provide any financial or investment advice or recommendation in relation to an Index to FTC or to its clients. Each Index is calculated by Russell or its agent. None of the Licensor Parties shall be (a) liable (whether in negligence or otherwise) to any person for any error in an Index or (b) under any obligation to advise any person of any error therein.
Frank Russell Company (“Russell”) is the source and owner of the trademarks, service marks and copyrights related to the Russell Indexes. Russell® is a trademark of Frank Russell Company. Neither Russell nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the Russell Indexes and / or Russell ratings or underlying data and no party may rely on any Russell Indexes and / or Russell ratings and / or underlying data contained in this communication. No further distribution of Russell Data is permitted without Russell’s express written consent. Russell does not promote, sponsor or endorse the content of this communication.
Franklin Templeton
Neither FTC, Advisory Services or any of their affiliates (together, “Franklin Templeton”) guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Indexes or any data included therein, and Franklin Templeton shall not have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. Franklin Templeton does not make any warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Funds, owners of the shares of the Funds or any other person or entity from the use of the Underlying Indexes or any data included therein. Franklin Templeton does not make any express or implied warranties, and expressly disclaims all
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warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose or use with respect to the Underlying Indexes or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Franklin Templeton have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential damages (including lost profits) arising out of matters relating to the use of the Underlying Indexes, even if notified of the possibility of such damages.
The Financial Highlights present the Fund's financial performance for the past five years or since its inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total returns represent the rate that an investor would have earned or lost on an investment in the Fund assuming reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, whose report, along with the Fund's financial statements, are included in the annual report, which is available upon request.
|
120 |
Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
a | ||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$22.55 |
$24.70 |
$24.25 |
$24.70 |
$25.45 |
||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.73 |
0.89 |
0.93 |
0.77 |
0.52 |
||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
5.27 |
(2.61 |
) |
0.79 |
0.10 |
1.45 |
|||||
|
Total from investment operations |
6.00 |
(1.72 |
) |
1.72 |
0.87 |
1.97 |
|||||
|
Less distributions from: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment income and net foreign currency gains |
(0.91 |
) |
(0.19 |
) |
(0.30 |
) |
(1.32 |
) |
(2.72 |
) | |
|
Net realized gains |
(1.12 |
) |
(0.24 |
) |
(0.97 |
) |
— |
— |
|||
|
Total distributions |
(2.03 |
) |
(0.43 |
) |
(1.27 |
) |
(1.32 |
) |
(2.72 |
) | |
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$26.52 |
$22.55 |
$24.70 |
$24.25 |
$24.70 |
||||||
|
Total returnd |
27.54% |
(7.12)% |
7.53% |
3.47% |
8.30% |
||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.40% |
0.40% |
0.40% |
1.42% |
f |
1.25% |
|||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.40% |
0.40% |
0.40% |
0.40% |
f |
0.40% |
|||||
|
Net investment income |
2.97% |
3.44% |
3.75% |
3.07% |
2.47% |
||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$13,260 |
$9,021 |
$7,410 |
$9,702 |
$9,880 |
||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
42.33% |
h |
26.82% |
h |
39.24% |
32.55% |
19.09% |
a. For the period June 1, 2016 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2017.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 41.62% 26.82%
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
a | ||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$22.20 |
$29.70 |
$33.41 |
$29.29 |
$25.66 |
||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.84 |
1.24 |
1.14 |
0.83 |
0.47 |
||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
8.55 |
(6.96 |
) |
(3.76 |
) |
4.15 |
3.25 |
||||
|
Total from investment operations |
9.39 |
(5.72 |
) |
(2.62 |
) |
4.98 |
3.72 |
||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.81 |
) |
(1.78 |
) |
(1.09 |
) |
(0.86 |
) |
(0.09 |
) | |
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$30.78 |
$22.20 |
$29.70 |
$33.41 |
$29.29 |
||||||
|
Total returnd |
42.57% |
(20.55)% |
(7.70)% |
17.20% |
14.55% |
||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.45% |
0.49% |
0.55% |
0.69% |
f |
0.75% |
|||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.45% |
0.49% |
0.55% |
0.54% |
f |
0.55% |
|||||
|
Net investment income |
3.15% |
4.26% |
3.75% |
2.61% |
2.09% |
||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$24,627 |
$57,711 |
$344,484 |
$400,908 |
$328,086 |
||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
40.22% |
h |
44.11% |
h |
52.42% |
32.87% |
31.66% |
a. For the period June 1, 2016 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2017.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 36.91% 41.78%
|
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
a | ||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$23.32 |
$28.20 |
$28.22 |
$27.31 |
$25.43 |
||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.92 |
1.04 |
0.95 |
0.86 |
0.67 |
||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
9.95 |
(4.90 |
) |
(0.02 |
) |
1.03 |
1.79 |
||||
|
Total from investment operations |
10.87 |
(3.86 |
) |
0.93 |
1.89 |
2.46 |
|||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.90 |
) |
(1.02 |
) |
(0.95 |
) |
(0.98 |
) |
(0.58 |
) | |
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$33.29 |
$23.32 |
$28.20 |
$28.22 |
$27.31 |
||||||
|
Total returnd |
47.20% |
(14.34)% |
3.51% |
6.91% |
9.79% |
||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.45% |
0.45% |
0.45% |
0.75% |
f |
0.98% |
|||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.45% |
0.45% |
0.45% |
0.45% |
f |
0.45% |
|||||
|
Net investment income |
3.21% |
3.60% |
3.43% |
3.05% |
3.11% |
||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$26,632 |
$18,653 |
$16,920 |
$16,933 |
$27,306 |
||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
42.38% |
h |
19.79% |
h |
25.75% |
43.32% |
13.38% |
a. For the period June 1, 2016 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2017.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 42.38% 19.79%
|
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Prospectus |
123 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
a | ||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$26.77 |
$30.90 |
$30.14 |
$27.18 |
$25.32 |
||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.81 |
0.90 |
0.89 |
0.74 |
0.56 |
||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
10.97 |
(4.00 |
) |
0.67 |
3.01 |
1.92 |
|||||
|
Total from investment operations |
11.78 |
(3.10 |
) |
1.56 |
3.75 |
2.48 |
|||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.90 |
) |
(1.03 |
) |
(0.80 |
) |
(0.79 |
) |
(0.62 |
) | |
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$37.65 |
$26.77 |
$30.90 |
$30.14 |
$27.18 |
||||||
|
Total returnd |
44.55% |
(10.53)% |
5.44% |
13.91% |
9.95% |
||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.35% |
0.35% |
0.35% |
0.90% |
f |
1.04% |
|||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.34% |
0.34% |
0.34% |
0.35% |
f |
0.35% |
|||||
|
Net investment income |
2.45% |
2.86% |
2.99% |
2.53% |
2.60% |
||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$15,059 |
$16,059 |
$24,721 |
$18,082 |
$21,744 |
||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
31.70% |
h |
27.85% |
h |
34.99% |
35.01% |
13.84% |
a. For the period June 1, 2016 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2017.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 31.70% 27.85%
|
124 |
Prospectus |
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FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
a | |||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$27.61 |
$31.41 |
$28.51 |
$25.44 |
|||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.72 |
0.76 |
0.66 |
0.53 |
|||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
12.49 |
(3.89 |
) |
2.71 |
2.98 |
||||||
|
Total from investment operations |
13.21 |
(3.13 |
) |
3.37 |
3.51 |
||||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.78 |
) |
(0.67 |
) |
(0.47 |
) |
(0.44 |
) | |||
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$40.04 |
$27.61 |
$31.41 |
$28.51 |
|||||||
|
Total returnd |
48.22% |
(10.27)% |
11.97% |
13.84% |
|||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.15% |
0.18% |
0.25% |
0.32% |
f | ||||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.15% |
0.18% |
0.25% |
0.25% |
f | ||||||
|
Net investment income |
2.06% |
2.32% |
2.20% |
2.10% |
|||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$1,353,407 |
$1,311,583 |
$1,008,255 |
$108,326 |
|||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
25.05% |
h |
19.44% |
h |
18.04% |
20.80% |
a. For the period April 26, 2017 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2018.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 25.05% 19.44%
|
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Prospectus |
125 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
a | |||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$24.94 |
$30.32 |
$27.70 |
$25.51 |
|||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.45 |
0.50 |
0.47 |
0.38 |
|||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
15.86 |
(5.41 |
) |
2.53 |
2.18 |
||||||
|
Total from investment operations |
16.31 |
(4.91 |
) |
3.00 |
2.56 |
||||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.41 |
) |
(0.47 |
) |
(0.38 |
) |
(0.37 |
) | |||
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$40.84 |
$24.94 |
$30.32 |
$27.70 |
|||||||
|
Total returnd |
65.69% |
(16.50)% |
10.92% |
10.09% |
|||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.30% |
0.30% |
0.30% |
0.99% |
f | ||||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.30% |
0.30% |
0.30% |
0.30% |
f | ||||||
|
Net investment income |
1.30% |
1.60% |
1.65% |
1.58% |
|||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$36,759 |
$13,718 |
$10,612 |
$2,770 |
|||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
25.02% |
h |
24.20% |
h |
23.49% |
36.21% |
a. For the period April 26, 2017 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2018.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 25.02% 24.20%
|
126 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
FUND
DETAILS
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF
Year Ended March 31,
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
a | |||||||
|
Per
share operating performance |
|||||||||||
|
Net asset value, beginning of year |
$20.48 |
$27.66 |
$26.66 |
$25.36 |
|||||||
|
Income from investment operationsb: |
|||||||||||
|
Net investment incomec |
0.28 |
0.39 |
0.47 |
0.33 |
|||||||
|
Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) |
16.15 |
(7.15 |
) |
0.87 |
1.27 |
||||||
|
Total from investment operations |
16.43 |
(6.76 |
) |
1.34 |
1.60 |
||||||
|
Less distributions from net investment income |
(0.38 |
) |
(0.42 |
) |
(0.34 |
) |
(0.30 |
) | |||
|
Net asset value, end of year |
$36.53 |
$20.48 |
$27.66 |
$26.66 |
|||||||
|
Total returnd |
80.74% |
(24.83)% |
5.05% |
6.34% |
|||||||
|
Ratios to average net assetse |
|||||||||||
|
Expenses before waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.35% |
0.35% |
0.35% |
1.15% |
f | ||||||
|
Expenses net of waiver and payments by affiliates |
0.35% |
0.35% |
0.35% |
0.35% |
f | ||||||
|
Net investment income |
0.99% |
1.41% |
1.69% |
1.40% |
|||||||
|
Supplemental data |
|||||||||||
|
Net assets, end of year (000’s) |
$14,613 |
$13,310 |
$17,979 |
$2,666 |
|||||||
|
Portfolio turnover rateg |
34.77% |
h |
23.83% |
h |
22.17% |
23.99% |
a. For the period April 26, 2017 (commencement of operations) to March 31, 2018.
b. The amount shown for a share outstanding throughout the period may not correlate with the Statement of Operations in the annual report for the period due to the timing of sales and repurchases of Creation Unit Fund shares in relation to income earned and/or fluctuating fair value of the investments of the Fund.
c. Based on average daily shares outstanding.
d. Total return is not annualized for periods less than one year. Total return is calculated assuming an initial investment made at the net asset value at the beginning of the period, reinvestment of all dividends and distributions at net asset value during the period, and redemption at net asset value on the last day of the period.
e. Ratios are annualized for periods less than one year.
f. Effective December 1, 2017, the Fund replaced the prior fee structure with a unified management fee.
g. Portfolio turnover rate includes portfolio transactions that are executed as a result of the Fund offering and redeeming Creation Units solely for cash (“Cash creations”).
h. Portfolio turnover rate excluding cash creations was as follows: 34.77% 23.83%
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
127 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
Shareholder Information
Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.
Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly traded companies. The Franklin Templeton ETF Trust (Trust) does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange. Shares of the Fund trade under the following symbol:
|
Fund |
Symbol |
|
Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF |
FLQH |
|
Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF |
FLQE |
|
Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF |
FLQD |
|
Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF |
FLQG |
|
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF |
FLQL |
|
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF |
FLQM |
|
Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF |
FLQS |
Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission or other charges determined by your broker. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,” that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund’s trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has a lot of trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity.
The board of trustees has not adopted a policy of monitoring for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares (frequent trading) that appear to attempt to take advantage of a potential arbitrage opportunity presented by a lag
|
128 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
between a change in the value of the Fund’s portfolio securities after the close of the primary markets for the Fund’s portfolio securities and the reflection of that change in the Fund’s NAV (market timing), because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, subject to the conditions described below under Creations and Redemptions. The board of trustees has not adopted a policy of monitoring for frequent trading activity because shares of the Fund are listed for trading on a national securities exchange.
The primary listing exchange for Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF, and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF is NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”).
The primary listing exchange for Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF, and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF is Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (“Cboe” and, collectively with NYSE Arca, the “Exchange”).
The Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
Section 12(d)(1) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (1940 Act) restricts investments by investment companies in the securities of other investment companies. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules or in an SEC exemptive order issued to the Trust. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) pursuant to the exemptive relief obtained by the Trust, the registered investment company must enter into an agreement with the Trust.
Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no share certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (DTC) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding shares of the Fund and is recognized as the owner of all shares for all purposes.
Investors owning shares of the Fund are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for shares of the Fund. DTC participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
129 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book-entry or “street name” form.
The trading prices of the Fund’s shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund’s daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as supply and demand, economic conditions and other factors.
The NAV of the Fund is determined by deducting the Fund’s liabilities from the total assets of the portfolio. The NAV per share is determined by dividing the total NAV of the Fund by the number of shares outstanding.
The Fund calculates the NAV per share each business day as of 1 p.m. Pacific time which normally coincides with the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The Fund does not calculate the NAV on days the NYSE is closed for trading, which include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. If the NYSE has a scheduled early close or unscheduled early close, the Fund’s share price would still be determined as of 1 p.m. Pacific time/4 p.m. Eastern time. The Fund’s NAV per share is readily available online at franklintempleton.com.
When determining its NAV, the Fund values cash and receivables at their realizable amounts, and records interest as accrued and dividends on the ex-dividend date. The Fund generally utilizes two independent pricing services to assist in determining a current market value for each security. If market quotations are readily available for portfolio securities listed on a securities exchange, the Fund values those securities at the last quoted sale price or the official closing price of the day, respectively, or, if there is no reported sale, within the range of the most recent quoted bid and ask prices. The Fund values over-the-counter portfolio securities within the range of the most recent bid and ask prices. If portfolio securities trade both in the over-the-counter market and on a stock exchange, the Fund values them according to the broadest and most representative market. Prices received by the Fund for securities may be based on institutional “round lot” sizes, but the Fund may hold smaller, “odd lot” sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than round lots.
Generally, trading in corporate bonds, U.S. government securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times before 1 p.m. Pacific time. The value of these securities used in computing the NAV is determined as of such times. Occasionally, events affecting the values of these
|
130 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
securities may occur between the times at which they are determined and 1 p.m. Pacific time that will not be reflected in the computation of the NAV. The Fund relies on third-party pricing vendors to provide evaluated prices that reflect current fair market value at 1 p.m. Pacific time.
Fair Valuation – Individual Securities
The Fund has procedures, approved by the board of trustees, to determine the fair value of individual securities and other assets for which market prices are not readily available (such as certain restricted or unlisted securities and private placements) or which may not be reliably priced (such as in the case of trade suspensions or halts, price movement limits set by certain foreign markets, and thinly traded or illiquid securities). Some methods for valuing these securities may include: fundamental analysis (earnings multiple, etc.), matrix pricing, discounts from market prices of similar securities, or discounts applied due to the nature and duration of restrictions on the disposition of the securities. The board of trustees oversees the application of fair value pricing procedures.
The application of fair value pricing procedures represents a good faith determination based upon specifically applied procedures. There can be no assurance that the Fund could obtain the fair value assigned to a security if it were able to sell the security at approximately the time at which the Fund determines its NAV per share. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund’s NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund’s performance and the performance of the Underlying Index and introduce tracking error.
Security Valuation – Foreign Securities – Computation of U.S. Equivalent Value (Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF)
The Fund generally determines the value of a foreign security as of the close of trading on the foreign stock exchange on which the security is primarily traded, or as of 1 p.m. Pacific time, if earlier. The value of a foreign security is then converted into its U.S. dollar equivalent at the foreign exchange rate in effect at 4:00 p.m. London time on the day that the value of the foreign security is determined. If no sale is reported at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time, the foreign security will be valued within the range of the most recent quoted bid and ask prices. Occasionally events (such as repatriation limits or restrictions) may impact the availability or reliability of foreign exchange rates used to convert the U.S. dollar equivalent value. If such an event occurs, the foreign exchange rate will be valued at fair value using procedures established and approved by the board of trustees. Use of a rate different from the rate used by the Underlying Index may adversely affect the Fund’s ability to track the Underlying Index and introduce tracking error.
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
131 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
Security Valuation – Foreign Securities – Potential Impact of Time Zones and Market Holidays (Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF)
Trading in securities on foreign securities stock exchanges and over-the-counter markets, such as those in Europe and Asia, may be completed well before 1 p.m. Pacific time. Occasionally, events occur between the time at which trading in a foreign security is completed and 1 p.m. Pacific time that might call into question the availability (including the reliability) of the value of a foreign portfolio security held by the Fund. In accordance with procedures established and approved by the Fund’s board of trustees, the investment manager monitors for significant events following the close of trading in foreign stock markets.
In the event the investment manager identifies a significant event, the investment manager will measure price movements using a series of country specific market proxies (such as baskets of American Depositary Receipts, futures contracts and ETFs) against established trigger thresholds for each specific market proxy to assist in determining if the significant event calls into question the availability (including the reliability) of the values of foreign securities between the times at which they are determined on their primary trading market and 1 p.m. Pacific time. If such trigger thresholds are exceeded, the foreign securities may be valued using fair value procedures established and approved by the board of trustees. In certain circumstances these procedures include the use of independent pricing services. The intended effect of applying fair value pricing is to compute an NAV that accurately reflects the value of the Fund’s portfolio at the time that the NAV is calculated.
In addition, trading in foreign portfolio securities generally, or in securities markets in a particular country or countries, may not take place on every NYSE business day. Furthermore, trading takes place in various foreign markets on days that are not business days for the NYSE, and on which the Fund’s NAV is not calculated (in which case, the NAV of the Fund’s shares may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell Fund shares). Thus, the calculation of the Fund’s NAV does not take place contemporaneously with the determination of the prices of many of the foreign portfolio securities used in the calculation. If significant events affecting the last determined values of these foreign securities occur (determined through the monitoring process described above), the securities may be valued at fair value determined in good faith in accordance with the Fund’s fair value procedures established and approved by the board of trustees.
|
132 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are “created” at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units of 200,000 shares or multiples thereof for the Non-U.S. Funds (100,000 shares or multiples thereof for the Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF) and 50,000 shares or multiples thereof for the U.S. Funds. An “Authorized Participant” is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers (AP Agreement) that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units. All orders for the creation or redemption of Creation Units must be placed by or through an Authorized Participant that has entered into an AP Agreement with Franklin Distributors, LLC (Distributors), an affiliate of Advisory Services.
A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by Distributors or its agents, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions and/or an amount of cash (which may include cash in lieu of certain securities, assets or other positions) in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units.
With respect to Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF, these deposits are generally partially in cash. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions and/or an amount of cash (which may include cash in lieu of certain securities, assets or other positions). With respect to Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF, Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF and Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF, redemptions are generally paid partially in cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund.
The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the AP Agreement.
Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund will accept “custom baskets.” More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund’s SAI. As a result of any system failure or other interruption, creation or redemption orders either may not be executed according to the Fund’s instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change such orders. Information about the procedures regarding creations and redemptions of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund’s SAI.
Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a broker-dealer or other participant in the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
133 |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant and, in either case, has executed an AP Agreement with Distributors. Information about the procedures regarding creations and redemptions of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.
Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a “distribution,” as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.
Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.
Information regarding how often the shares of the Fund traded on the applicable Exchange at a price above (at a premium) or below (at a discount) the NAV of the Fund for the most recently completed calendar year, and the most recently completed calendar quarters since that year, can be found at https://www.franklintempleton.com/investor/investments-and-solutions/investment-options/etfs/.
Delivery of Shareholder Documents - Householding
You will receive the Fund's financial reports every six months as well as an annual updated prospectus. Householding for the Fund is available through certain broker-dealers. Householding is a process in which related shareholders in a household will be sent only one copy of the financial reports and prospectus. You may contact your broker-dealer to enroll in householding. Once enrolled, this process will continue indefinitely unless you instruct your broker-dealer otherwise. If you prefer not to have these documents householded, please contact your broker-dealer. At any time you may view current prospectuses and financial reports on our website.
|
134 |
Prospectus |
franklintempleton.com |
FRANKLIN TEMPLETON ETF
TRUST
SHAREHOLDER
INFORMATION
Distributors or its agents distribute Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. Distributors does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. Distributors is an affiliate of Advisory Services.
Distribution and service (12b-1) fees (Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Equity ETF, Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF and Franklin LibertyQ U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF)
The board of trustees has adopted a distribution plan, sometimes known as a Rule 12b-1 plan, that allows the Fund to pay distribution fees of up to 0.25% per year, to those who sell and distribute Fund shares and provide other services to shareholders. However, the board of trustees has determined not to authorize payment of a Rule 12b-1 plan fee at this time.
Because these fees are paid out of the Fund’s assets on an ongoing basis, to the extent that a fee is authorized, over time these fees will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than paying other types of sales charges.
|
franklintempleton.com |
Prospectus |
135 |
For More Information
You can learn more about the Fund in the following documents:
Annual/Semiannual Report to Shareholders
Includes a discussion of recent market conditions and Fund strategies that significantly affected Fund performance during its last fiscal year, financial statements, detailed performance information, portfolio holdings and, in the annual report only, the independent registered public accounting firm’s report.
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
Contains more information about the Fund, its investments and policies. It is incorporated by reference (is legally a part of this prospectus).
For a free copy of the current annual/semiannual report or the SAI, please contact your investment representative or call us at the number below. You also can view the current annual/semiannual report and the SAI online through franklintempleton.com.
Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following email address: [email protected].
Individual investors should contact their financial advisor or broker dealer representative for more information about Franklin Templeton ETFs.
Financial Professionals should call (800) DIAL BEN®/342-5236.
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One
Franklin Parkway |
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Investment
Company Act file #811-23124 |
