PROSPECTUS
DATED |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNIXX) |
Class N |
(CNGXX) |
Class S |
(CNFXX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNBIX) |
Class N |
(CGBAX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNCIX) |
Class N |
(CCBAX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNTIX) |
Class N |
(CCTEX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNRMX) |
Class N |
(CNRNX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNRCX) |
Institutional Class |
(CNRIX) |
Class N |
(RIMCX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNRZX) |
Class N |
(RIMOX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Servicing Class |
(CNRHX) |
Class N |
(RIMHX) |
City
National Rochdale | |
Institutional Class |
(CNRUX) |
Servicing Class |
(CNRVX) |
Class N |
(CNRWX) |
The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “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.
table of contents
Mutual fund shares are not insured or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. Mutual fund shares are not bank deposits, nor are they obligations of, or issued, endorsed or guaranteed by City National Bank or Royal Bank of Canada. Investing in mutual funds involves risks, including possible loss of principal.
The Funds’ Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”) has more detailed information on all subjects covered in this Prospectus. Investors seeking more in-depth explanations of the Funds should request the SAI and review it before purchasing shares.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 2
Servicing Class
Class N
Class S
summaries
The City National Rochdale Government Money Market Fund (the “Government Money Fund” or the “Fund”) is a money market fund that seeks to preserve your principal and maintain a high degree of liquidity while providing current income. Also, the Government Money Fund seeks to maintain a $1.00 per share net asset value (“NAV”).
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Government Money Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Class S |
Management Fees(1) |
|
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee(2) |
|
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
|
Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(1)(2) |
( |
( |
( |
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses after Fee Waiver and/or Expense Reimbursement(3) |
|
|
|
(1) |
|
(2) |
|
(3) |
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Government Money Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Government Money Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class S |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 3
Using a top-down strategy and bottom-up security selection, the Adviser seeks securities with an acceptable maturity that are marketable and liquid and offer competitive yields. The Adviser also considers factors such as the anticipated level of interest rates and the maturity of individual securities relative to the maturity of the Fund as a whole.
The Fund does not currently intend to avail itself of the ability to impose “liquidity fees” and/or “gates” on Fund redemptions, as permitted by Rule 2a-7. However, the Board of Trustees reserves the right, with notice to shareholders, to change this policy in the future.
As with any money market fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Government Money Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goals. Here are the principal risks to consider:
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies, which could result in losses for the Fund. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
Government-Sponsored Entities – The Fund invests in securities issued by government-sponsored entities, such as mortgage-related securities, which may not be guaranteed or insured by the U.S. Government and may only be supported by the credit of the issuing agency.
Credit – The Fund invests exclusively in securities that are rated, when the Fund buys them, in the highest short-term rating category, or if unrated, are of comparable quality in the Adviser’s opinion. However, it is possible that some issuers or other obligors will be unable to make the required payments on securities held by the Fund. Debt securities also go up or down in value based on the perceived creditworthiness of issuers or other obligors. If an obligor for a security held by the Fund fails to pay, otherwise defaults or is perceived to be less creditworthy, a security’s credit rating is downgraded (which could happen rapidly), or the credit quality or value of any underlying assets declines, the value of your investment in the Fund could decline significantly, particularly in certain market environments. If the Fund enters into a financial contract (such as a repurchase agreement or reverse repurchase agreement) the Fund will be subject to the credit risk presented by the counterparty. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer, obligor or counterparty.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 4
Interest Rates – The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. The Fund’s expenses could absorb all or a significant portion of the Fund’s income, and, if the Fund’s expenses exceed the Fund’s income, the Fund may be unable to maintain its $1.00 share price without a subsidy by the Adviser or its affiliates. In addition, during periods when interest rates are low or there are negative interest rates, the Fund’s yield also may be low or the Fund may be unable to maintain a positive yield or a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Repurchase Agreements – Repurchase agreements are agreements under which securities are acquired from a securities dealer or bank subject to resale at an agreed upon price which includes principal and interest. Under all repurchase agreements entered into by the Fund, the Fund’s custodian or its agent must take possession of the underlying collateral. However, if the seller defaults, the Fund could realize a loss on the sale of the underlying security to the extent the proceeds of the sale are less than the resale price. If the counterparty becomes insolvent, there is some risk that the Fund will not have a right to the securities, or the immediate right to sell the securities.
No
Guarantees –
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value and that could affect the Fund’s ability to maintain a $1.00 share price. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Government Money Fund’s Servicing Class (formerly designated as Institutional Class) shares based on a calendar year.
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | |
2022 |
|
Q4 2022 |
|
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 5
This table shows the Government Money Fund’s average annual total returns for the periods ended December 31, 2022.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Servicing Class |
|
|
|
Class N |
|
|
|
Class S |
|
|
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Charles Luke, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, and Michael Taila, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as portfolio managers for the Government Money Fund since 2021.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms, including retirement plan accounts and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) maintained at City National Bank, advisory accounts with City National Securities, institutional investors/agents with $50 million or more in non-managed brokerage accounts maintained at City National Securities, and other institutional investors/agents approved by the Adviser. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts. The Class S shares of the Fund are available to investors who have funds with City National Bank and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. The Government Money Fund has no minimum purchase requirement; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information. The shares of the Government Money Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Government Money Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Government Money Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 6
Servicing Class
Class N
The City National Rochdale Government Bond Fund (the “Government Bond Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide current income (as the primary component of a total return intermediate duration strategy) by investing primarily in U.S. Government securities.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Government Bond Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
||
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Government Bond Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Government Bond Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Government Bond Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys
and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio
turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher
taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not
reflected in 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
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 7
its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage. The Fund may retain a security after it has been downgraded to any rating below the minimum credit rating if the Adviser determines that doing so is in the best interests of the Fund.
The Adviser actively manages the average duration of the Fund’s portfolio in accordance with its expectations of interest rate changes as driven by economic trends. The average duration of the Fund’s portfolio typically ranges from two to six years, but may vary due to unusually large purchases or redemptions of the Fund’s shares. There is no limit on the maturities of individual securities held by the Fund. The Government Bond Fund may also invest in the shares of money market mutual funds the investments of which are consistent with those of the Fund.
Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Government Bond
Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goals.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
Government-Sponsored Entities – The Fund invests in securities issued by government-sponsored entities which may not be guaranteed or insured by the U.S. Government and may only be supported by the credit of the issuing agency.
Issuers – The Fund may be adversely affected if the issuers of securities that the Fund holds do not make their principal or interest payments on time. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Extension – Rising interest rates can cause the average maturity of the Fund’s holdings of mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities to lengthen unexpectedly due to a drop in prepayments. This would increase the sensitivity of the Fund to rising rates and the potential for price declines of portfolio securities.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 8
Prepayments – As a general rule, prepayments of principal of loans underlying mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities increase during a period of falling interest rates and decrease during a period of rising interest rates. In periods of declining interest rates, as a result of prepayments the Fund may be required to reinvest its assets in securities with lower interest rates. In periods of increasing interest rates, the securities subject to prepayment risk held by the Fund may exhibit price characteristics of longer-term debt securities.
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the view of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Government Bond Fund’s Servicing Class (formerly designated as Institutional Class) shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q1 2020 |
|
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 9
2013 | - |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | - |
2022 | - |
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Government Bond Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Servicing Class |
|
|
|
Return Before Taxes |
- |
- |
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
- |
- |
- |
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares |
- |
- |
- |
Class N |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
- |
- |
Bloomberg U.S. 1-5 Year Government Bond Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Charles Luke, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, and David Krouth, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as portfolio managers for the Government Bond Fund since 2020 and 2021, respectively.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts of the Adviser not maintained at City National Bank, and certain tax deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. There are no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements for Servicing Class or Class N shares; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
The shares of the Government Bond Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Government Bond Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 10
Servicing Class
Class N
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Government Bond Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 11
Servicing Class
Class N
The City National Rochdale Corporate Bond Fund (the “Corporate Bond Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide current income (as the primary component of a total return intermediate duration strategy) by investing in a diversified portfolio of fixed income securities.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Corporate Bond Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(1) |
|
|
(1) |
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Corporate Bond Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Corporate Bond Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Corporate Bond Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys
and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio
turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher
taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not
reflected in 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
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 12
City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Fund’s investment adviser, actively manages the average duration of the portfolio in accordance with its expectations of interest rate changes as driven by economic trends. The average duration of the Fund’s portfolio typically ranges from two to six years, but may vary due to unusually large purchases or redemptions of the Fund’s shares. There is no limit on the maturities of individual securities held by the Fund.
The Adviser typically invests in corporate issues with a minimum credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service or Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services of Baa or BBB, mortgage-backed and asset-backed instruments with a minimum rating of Aa or AA and corporate commercial paper issued by issuers with a minimum credit rating of P1 or A1. Although the Adviser considers credit ratings in selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser bases its investment decision for a particular instrument primarily on its own credit analysis and not on a credit rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The Adviser considers, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage. The Fund may retain a security after it has been downgraded to any rating below the minimum credit rating if the Adviser determines that doing so is in the best interests of the Fund. The Fund may also invest in municipal securities and in the shares of money market mutual funds, the investments of which are consistent with those of the Fund.
Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Corporate Bond
Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goals.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
Issuers – The Fund may be adversely affected if the issuers of securities that the Fund holds do not make their principal or interest payments on time. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
Foreign Securities – Investments in securities of foreign issuers tend to be more volatile than domestic securities because of economic and social conditions abroad, political developments, and changes in the regulatory environments of foreign countries. Changes in currency rates and exchange control regulations, and the imposition of sanctions, withholding taxes on income, confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other government restrictions by the United States and/or other governments may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments in foreign securities. There may be less government supervision of foreign markets. As a result, foreign issuers may not be subject to the uniform accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards and practices applicable to domestic issuers, and there may be less publicly available information about foreign issuers. Foreign securities may be less liquid and more difficult to value than domestic securities.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 13
Emerging Market Securities – Many of the risks with respect to foreign securities are more pronounced for investments in developing or emerging market countries. Emerging market countries may have more government exchange controls, more volatile interest and currency exchange rates, less market regulation, and less developed and less stable securities markets and economic, political, and legal systems than those of more developed countries. There may be less publicly available and reliable information about issuers in emerging markets than is available about issuers in more developed markets. In addition, emerging market countries may experience high levels of inflation and may have less liquid securities markets and less efficient trading and settlement systems. Their economies also depend heavily upon international trade and may be adversely affected by protective trade barriers and the economic and political conditions of their trading partners.
Municipal Securities – U.S. state and local governments issuing municipal securities held by the Fund rely on revenues including taxes and revenues from public and private projects to pay interest and principal on municipal debt. The payment of principal and interest on these obligations may be adversely affected by a variety of factors at the state or local level, including poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Extension – Rising interest rates can cause the average maturity of the Fund’s holdings of mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities to lengthen unexpectedly due to a drop in prepayments. This would increase the sensitivity of the Fund to rising rates and the potential for price declines of portfolio securities.
Prepayments – As a general rule, prepayments of principal of loans underlying mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities increase during a period of falling interest rates and decrease during a period of rising interest rates. In periods of declining interest rates, as a result of prepayments the Fund may be required to reinvest its assets in securities with lower interest rates. In periods of increasing interest rates, the securities subject to prepayment risk held by the Fund may exhibit price characteristics of longer-term debt securities.
Privately Placed and Restricted Securities Risk – Privately placed and restricted securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), may be considered illiquid. Privately placed and restricted securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. The absence of an active trading market may also make it difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund’s net asset value.
LIBOR Risk – Many financial instruments, financings or other transactions to which the Fund may be a party use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, announced that after 2021 it would cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR. The publication of LIBOR on a representative basis ceased for the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after December 31, 2021, and it is expected to cease for the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after June 30, 2023. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to determine, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, (i) existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallback provisions for both legacy and new products and instruments. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, and there may be a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
Underlying Funds – To the extent the Fund invests in other funds, the risks associated with investing in the Fund are closely related to the risks associated with the securities and other investments held by the underlying funds. The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment goals depends in part upon the ability of the underlying funds to achieve their investment goals. The underlying funds may not achieve their investment goals. In addition, by investing in the Fund, shareholders indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the underlying funds in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect these underlying funds and the investment company industry generally.
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the view of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 14
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Corporate Bond Fund’s Servicing Class (formerly designated as Institutional Class) shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q2 2020 |
|
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | - |
2022 | - |
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Corporate Bond Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of companies similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Servicing Class |
|
|
|
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
- |
- |
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares |
- |
|
|
Class N |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Bloomberg 1-5 U.S. Corporate A3 or Higher, 2% Issuer Constrained Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 15
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Charles Luke, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, and David Krouth, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as portfolio managers for the Corporate Bond Fund since 2020 and 2015, respectively.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts of the Adviser not maintained at City National Bank, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. The Corporate Bond Fund has no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
The shares of the Corporate Bond Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Corporate Bond Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Corporate Bond Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 16
Class N
Servicing Class
The City National Rochdale California Tax Exempt Bond Fund (the “California Tax Exempt Bond Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide current income exempt from federal and California state income tax (as the primary component of a total return strategy) by investing primarily in California municipal bonds.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
||
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
California Tax Exempt Bond Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions,
when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher
portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in
higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which
are not reflected in 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
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 17
are consistent with the Fund’s goals (i.e., money market funds that invest primarily in securities the interest from which is expected to be exempt from federal and California state personal income taxes). Up to 20% of the Fund’s net assets may be invested in securities subject to the federal alternative minimum tax (the “AMT”) applicable to noncorporate taxpayers.
City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Fund’s investment adviser, actively manages the average duration of the Fund’s portfolio in accordance with its expectations of interest rate changes as driven by economic trends. The average duration of the Fund’s portfolio typically ranges from three to eight years, but may vary due to unusually large purchases or redemptions of the Fund’s shares. There is no limit on the maturities of individual securities held by the Fund. The Fund typically invests in issues with a minimum credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) or Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“Standard & Poor’s”) of Baa or BBB, issues carrying credit enhancements such as insurance by the major bond insurance companies with an underlying minimum credit rating of Baa or BBB, and short-term notes with a rating from Moody’s of MIG1 or VMIG1 or from Standard & Poor’s of SP1 or A1. Although the Adviser considers credit ratings in selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser bases its investment decision for a particular instrument primarily on its own credit analysis and not on a credit rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The Adviser considers, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage. The Fund may retain a security after it has been downgraded to any rating below the minimum credit rating if the Adviser determines that doing so is in the best interests of the Fund.
Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the California Tax
Exempt Bond Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its
investment goals.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
California Risk Factors – The Fund may be subject to greater risks than other tax exempt bond funds that are diversified across issuers located in a number of states. The Fund is vulnerable to adverse economic, political or other events that may lessen the ability of California municipal securities issuers to pay interest and principal on their securities. Poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives at the state or local level, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, seismic or other natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems affecting the state generally or a particular issuer may reduce tax revenues and increase the expenses of California municipal issuers, making it more difficult for them to meet their obligations. Actual or perceived erosion of the creditworthiness of California municipal issuers may also reduce the value of the Fund’s holdings.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 18
Municipal Securities – U.S. state and local governments issuing municipal securities held by the Fund rely on taxes and revenues from private projects financed by municipal securities to pay interest and principal on municipal debt. The payment of principal and interest on these obligations may be adversely affected by a variety of factors at the state or local level, including poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems.
Taxes – Although one of the Fund’s goals is to provide income exempt from federal and California state personal income taxes, some of its distributions are expected to be subject to a federal AMT. If certain types of investments the Fund buys as tax-exempt are later ruled not to meet the applicable requirements, a portion of the Fund’s distributions could become subject to regular personal income taxes.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline. Investments in lower rated debt securities involve higher credit risks. There is a relatively higher risk that the issuer of such debt securities will fail to make timely payments of interest or principal, or go bankrupt. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Credit Enhancement – The securities in which the Fund invests may be subject to credit enhancement (for example, guarantees, letters of credit or bond insurance). If the credit quality of the credit enhancement provider (for example, a bank or bond insurer) is downgraded, the rating on a security credit enhanced by such credit enhancement provider also may be downgraded. Having multiple securities credit enhanced by the same enhancement provider will increase the adverse effects on the Fund that are likely to result from a downgrading of, or a default by, such an enhancement provider. Adverse developments in the banking or bond insurance industries also may negatively affect the Fund.
Non-Diversification –
LIBOR Risk – Many financial instruments, financings or other transactions to which the Fund may be a party use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, announced that after 2021 it would cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR. The publication of LIBOR on a representative basis ceased for the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after December 31, 2021, and it is expected to cease for the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after June 30, 2023. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to determine, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, (i) existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallback provisions for both legacy and new products and instruments. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, and there may be a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
Tender Option Bonds – Tender option bond receipts are derived from fixed-rate municipal bonds that are placed in a trust that also contains a liquidity facility. The trust issues two classes of receipts, one of which is a synthetic variable-rate demand obligation (a “floater receipt”) and one of which is an inverse-rate long-term obligation. Each obligation represents a proportionate interest in the underlying bonds. In the event of certain defaults or a significant downgrade of the credit rating assigned to the issuer of an underlying bond, the liquidity facility provider may not be obligated to accept tendered floater receipts. In this event, the underlying bonds in the trust are priced for sale in the market and the proceeds are used to repay the floater and inverse receipt holders. If the receipt holders cannot be repaid in full from the sale of the underlying bonds then the bonds will be distributed to the receipt holders on a pro rata basis, in which case the holders would likely incur losses.
Underlying Funds – To the extent the Fund invests in other funds, the risks associated with investing in the Fund are closely related to the risks associated with the securities and other investments held by the underlying funds. The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment goals depends in part upon the ability of the underlying funds to achieve their investment goals. The underlying funds may not achieve their investment goals. In addition, by investing in the Fund, shareholders indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the underlying funds in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect these underlying funds and the investment company industry generally.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 19
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the view of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in municipal securities of issuers in states other than California or in cash or cash equivalents (including taxable money market securities). During such a period, the Fund may not be seeking its investment goals. If the Fund makes defensive investments, it may generate taxable income.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund’s Servicing Class (formerly designated as Institutional Class) shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q4 2022 |
|
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | - |
2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | - |
2022 | - |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 20
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of an index comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Servicing Class |
|
|
|
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares |
- |
|
|
Class N |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Bloomberg CA Intermediate-Short Municipal Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
|
|
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Michael Taila, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, and Pam Nelson, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as portfolio managers for the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund since 2020 and 2021, respectively.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts of the Adviser not maintained at City National Bank, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. The California Tax Exempt Bond Fund has no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
The shares of the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The California Tax Exempt Bond Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular federal and California state income taxes. A portion of the Fund’s distributions, however, may be subject to such taxes and a portion is expected to be subject to a federal AMT.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 21
Class N
Servicing Class
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 22
Class N
Servicing Class
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE MUNICIPAL HIGH INCOME FUND
The City National Rochdale Municipal High Income Fund (the “Muni High Income Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide a high level of current income that is not subject to federal income tax.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Muni High Income Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Muni High Income Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Muni High Income Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Muni High Income Fund pays transaction costs when it buys and sells securities
(or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate
higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are
held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund
operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance. During the
most recent fiscal year, the Fund’s portfolio turnover rate was
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 23
The Fund typically invests in medium- and lower-quality bonds, which are bonds that are rated BBB+ or lower by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“Standard & Poor’s”), are comparably rated by another nationally recognized statistical rating organization (“NRSRO”) or, if unrated, are determined by City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Fund’s investment adviser, to be of comparable quality. The Fund’s typical investments include non-investment grade debt securities (commonly called junk bonds), which are rated BB+ or lower by Standard & Poor’s, comparably rated by another NRSRO or, if unrated, determined by the Adviser to be of comparable quality. The Fund may invest an unlimited amount of its total assets in non-investment grade debt securities. Although the Adviser considers credit ratings in selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser bases its investment decision for a particular instrument primarily on its own credit analysis and not on an NRSRO’s credit rating. The Adviser will consider, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage.
The Fund may invest in higher quality municipal bonds at times when yield spreads are narrow and the Adviser believes that the higher yields do not justify the increased risk, or when, in the opinion of the Adviser, there is a lack of medium- and lower-quality bonds in which to invest.
The Adviser’s view on interest rates largely determines the desired duration of the Fund’s holdings and how the Adviser structures the portfolio to achieve a duration target. In current market conditions, the Fund invests substantially in municipal bonds with remaining maturities of ten to 30 years.
In selecting investments for the Fund the Adviser typically conducts a macro-economic analysis, and it may consider a number of factors including the security’s current coupon; the maturity, relative value and market yield of the security; the creditworthiness of the particular issuer or of the private company involved; the sector in which the issuer operates; the structure of the security, including whether it has a call feature; and the state in which the issuer is located.
The Fund primarily invests in revenue bonds, which are payable only from specific sources, such as the revenue from a particular project, a special tax, lease payments and/or appropriated funds. Revenue bonds include certain private activity bonds (“PABs”), which finance privately operated facilities. Revenue bonds may also include housing bonds that finance pools of single-family home mortgages and student loan bonds that finance pools of student loans, as well as bonds that finance charter schools. Revenue bonds may also include tobacco bonds that are issued by state created special purpose entities as a means to securitize a state’s share of annual tobacco settlement revenues. The Fund may invest significantly in PABs in general; in revenue bonds payable from revenues derived from similar projects, such as those in the health care, life care, education and special tax sectors; and in municipal bonds of issuers located in the same geographic area.
Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Muni High Income
Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goal.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
High Yield (“Junk”) Bonds – High yield bonds involve greater risks of default, downgrade, or price declines and are more volatile than investment grade securities. Issuers of high yield bonds may be more susceptible than other issuers to economic downturns and are subject to a greater risk that the issuer may not be able to pay interest or dividends and ultimately to repay principal upon maturity. Discontinuation of these payments could have a substantial adverse effect on the market value of the security, and could result in losses for the Fund.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 24
Municipal Securities – U.S. state and local governments issuing municipal securities held by the Fund rely on revenues including taxes and revenues from public and private projects to pay interest and principal on municipal debt. The payment of principal and interest on these obligations may be adversely affected by a variety of factors at the state or local level, including poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems.
Taxes – Although the Fund seeks to provide income exempt from federal income taxes, the Fund may invest in municipal bonds the interest on which is a Tax Preference Item. A Fund dividend attributable to such interest will also be a Tax Preference Item. If a noncorporate Fund shareholder’s AMT liability increases as a result, that would reduce the Fund’s after-tax return to the shareholder. In addition, if certain types of investments the Fund buys as tax-exempt are later determined not to meet the applicable requirements, a portion of the Fund’s income could become subject to regular personal income taxes.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline. Investments in bank loans and lower rated debt securities involve higher credit risks. There is a relatively higher risk that the issuer of such loans or debt securities will fail to make timely payments of interest or principal, or go bankrupt. Credit risk may be high for the Fund because it invests in lower rated investment quality fixed income securities. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
Privately Placed and Restricted Securities Risk – Privately placed and restricted securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), may be considered illiquid. Privately placed and restricted securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. The absence of an active trading market may also make it difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund’s net asset value.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Liquidity – High-yield bonds and lower rated securities may experience illiquidity, particularly during certain periods of financial or economic distress, causing the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. It may be more difficult for the Fund to sell its investments when they are less liquid or illiquid, and the Fund may receive less than expected. Additionally, one or more of the instruments in which the Fund invests may be permanently illiquid in nature and market prices for these instruments are unlikely to be readily available at any time. In the absence of readily available market prices or, as may be the case for certain illiquid asset-backed investments, the absence of any pricing service or observable pricing inputs, the valuation process will depend on the evaluation of factors such as prevailing interest rates, creditworthiness of the issuer, the relative value of the cash flows represented by the underlying assets and other factors. The sales price the Fund may receive for an illiquid security may differ from the Adviser’s valuation of the illiquid security.
Credit Enhancement – The securities in which the Fund invests may be subject to credit enhancement (for example, guarantees, letters of credit or bond insurance). If the credit quality of the credit enhancement provider (for example, a bank or bond insurer) is downgraded, the rating on a security credit enhanced by such credit enhancement provider also may be downgraded. Having multiple securities credit enhanced by the same enhancement provider will increase the adverse effects on the Fund that are likely to result from a downgrading of, or a default by, such an enhancement provider. Adverse developments in the banking or bond insurance industries also may negatively affect the Fund.
Prepayment or Call Risk – Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Fund will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on the prepaid security. The Fund also may lose any premium it paid on the security.
LIBOR Risk – Many financial instruments, financings or other transactions to which the Fund may be a party use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, announced that after 2021 it would cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR. The publication of LIBOR on a representative basis ceased for the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after December 31, 2021, and it is expected to cease for the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after June 30, 2023. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 25
be difficult to determine, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, (i) existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallback provisions for both legacy and new products and instruments. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, and there may be a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
Private Activity Bonds – Municipalities and other public authorities issue private activity bonds to finance development of industrial facilities for use by a private enterprise. The private enterprise pays the principal and interest on the bond, and the issuer does not pledge its faith, credit and taxing power for repayment.
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the view of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goal.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Muni High Income Fund Servicing Class shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q1 2014 |
|
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | - |
2017 | |
2018 | |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | |
2022 | - |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 26
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Muni High Income Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of an index comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Since
Inception |
Servicing Class |
|
| |
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares |
- |
|
|
Class N |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
- |
|
Bloomberg 60% Tax-Exempt High Yield/40% Municipal Investment Grade Custom Capped Custom Weighted Index Unhedged USD Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
William Black, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, Douglas Gibbs, Director and Portfolio Manager / Senior High Yield Municipal Analyst of the Adviser, and Brian Winters, Director and Portfolio Manager / Senior High Yield Municipal Analyst of the Advisor, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Mr. Black has served as portfolio manager for the Fund since April 2016. Messrs. Gibbs and Winters have served as portfolio managers for the Fund since January 2017.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts of the Adviser not maintained at City National Bank. The Muni High Income Fund has no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
The shares of the Muni High Income Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Muni High Income Fund intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular federal income taxes. A portion of the Fund’s distributions, however, may be subject to such taxes, and a significant portion is expected to be a Tax Preference Item subject to the federal AMT applicable to noncorporate taxpayers.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 27
Class N
Servicing Class
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Muni High Income Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 28
Institutional Class
Class N
Servicing Class
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE INTERMEDIATE FIXED INCOME FUND
The City National Rochdale Intermediate Fixed Income Fund (the “Intermediate Fixed Income Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks current income and, to the extent consistent with this goal, capital appreciation.
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Institutional Class |
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(1) |
|
|
|
(1) |
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Institutional Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may
indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund
shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in
annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance.
During its most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate of the Fund was
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 29
and government issuers that provide an attractive rate of current income or provide for an attractive return based on the maturity, duration, and credit quality of the issuer relative to comparable issuers included in the Bloomberg Intermediate U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index. The Fund also invests in bank loans and agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities.
Under normal market conditions, the Fund’s assets will principally be invested in investment grade fixed-income securities (i.e., obligations rated BBB- or better by Standard & Poor’s or Baa3 or better by Moody’s, or if unrated, determined by the Fund’s investment adviser, City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), to be of equal quality). The Fund may also invest a portion of its assets in fixed-income securities rated below investment grade (commonly known as “junk” bonds). Although the Adviser considers credit ratings in selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser bases its investment decision for a particular instrument primarily on its own credit analysis and not on a credit rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The Adviser considers, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage. The Adviser expects that the average credit quality of the Fund will be BBB or higher.
The Fund seeks to have an average portfolio maturity and duration between three and ten years, as such debt obligations generally pay a higher rate of current income than shorter maturity debt obligations. The Adviser expects the Fund to maintain a dollar-weighted average maturity and average duration similar to those of the Bloomberg Intermediate U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index (which are 4.21 years and 3.83 years) respectively, as of December 31, 2022, but may position the Fund’s portfolio to be longer or shorter based on the Adviser’s outlook with respect to interest rates.
The Fund may continue to own a security as long as the dividend or interest yields satisfy the Fund’s goals, the credit quality meets the Adviser’s fundamental criteria and the Adviser believes the valuation is attractive and industry trends remain favorable. Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what the it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Intermediate
Fixed Income Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its
investment goals.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
Issuers – The Fund may be adversely affected if the issuers of securities that the Fund holds do not make their principal or interest payments on time. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Municipal Securities – U.S. state and local governments issuing municipal securities held by the Fund rely on revenues including taxes and revenues from public and private projects to pay interest and principal on municipal debt. The payment of principal and interest on these obligations may be adversely affected by a variety of factors at the state or local level, including poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 30
High Yield (“Junk”) Bonds – High yield bonds involve greater risks of default, downgrade, or price declines and are more volatile than investment grade securities. Issuers of high yield bonds may be more susceptible than other issuers to economic downturns and are subject to a greater risk that the issuer may not be able to pay interest or dividends and ultimately to repay principal upon maturity. Discontinuation of these payments could have a substantial adverse effect on the market value of the security, and could result in losses for the Fund.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline. Investments in bank loans and lower rated debt securities involve higher credit risks. There is a relatively higher risk that the issuer of such loans or debt securities will fail to make timely payments of interest or principal, or go bankrupt. Credit risk may be high for the Fund because it invests in lower rated investment quality fixed income securities.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Extension – Rising interest rates can cause the average maturity of the Fund’s holdings of mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities to lengthen unexpectedly due to a drop in prepayments. This would increase the sensitivity of the Fund to rising rates and the potential for price declines of portfolio securities.
Prepayments – As a general rule, prepayments of principal of loans underlying mortgage-backed or other pass-through securities increase during a period of falling interest rates and decrease during a period of rising interest rates. In periods of declining interest rates, as a result of prepayments the Fund may be required to reinvest its assets in securities with lower interest rates. In periods of increasing interest rates, the securities subject to prepayment risk held by the Fund may exhibit price characteristics of longer-term debt securities.
Privately Placed and Restricted Securities Risk – Privately placed and restricted securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), may be considered illiquid. Privately placed and restricted securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. The absence of an active trading market may also make it difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund’s net asset value.
Liquidity – Bank loans, high-yield bonds, floating rate securities and lower rated securities may experience illiquidity, particularly during certain periods of financial or economic distress, causing the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. It may be more difficult for the Fund to sell its investments when they are less liquid or illiquid, and the Fund may receive less than expected. Additionally, one or more of the instruments in which the Fund invests may be permanently illiquid in nature and market prices for these instruments are unlikely to be readily available at any time. In the absence of readily available market prices or, as may be the case for certain illiquid asset-backed investments, the absence of any pricing service or observable pricing inputs, the valuation process will depend on the evaluation of factors such as prevailing interest rates, creditworthiness of the issuer, the relative value of the cash flows represented by the underlying assets and other factors. The sales price the Fund may receive for an illiquid security may differ from the Adviser’s valuation of the illiquid security.
Bank Loans – Bank loans are not traded on an exchange and purchasers and sellers of bank loans generally rely on market makers, typically the administrative agent under a bank loan, to effect private sales transactions. As a result, bank loans may have relatively less liquidity than other types of fixed income assets, and the Fund may be more likely to incur losses on the sale of bank loans than on other, more liquid, investments. Loan instruments may not be readily marketable and may be subject to restrictions on resale. In some cases, negotiations involved in disposing of loans may require weeks to complete. Thus, transactions in loan instruments may take longer than seven days to settle. This could pose a liquidity risk to the Fund and, if the Fund’s exposure to such investments is substantial, could impair the Fund’s ability to meet shareholder redemptions in a timely manner.
LIBOR Risk – Many financial instruments, financings or other transactions to which the Fund may be a party use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, announced that after 2021 it would cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR. The publication of LIBOR on a representative basis ceased for the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after December 31, 2021, and it is expected to cease for the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after June 30, 2023. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to determine, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, (i) existing fallback or termination
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 31
provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallback provisions for both legacy and new products and instruments. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, and there may be a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the view of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
The Fund’s predecessor, the Rochdale Intermediate Fixed Income Portfolio, commenced operations on December 31, 1999, as a series of Rochdale Investment Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the “Predecessor Fund”). The Intermediate Fixed Income Fund commenced operations on March 29, 2013, and offered shares of the Fund for public sale on April 1, 2013, after the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Fund. The Fund has adopted investment goals and investment strategies and policies identical to those of the Predecessor Fund.
In the bar chart and the performance table, the performance results prior to March 29, 2013, are for the Predecessor Fund. Institutional Class shares and Class N shares of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund and the Predecessor Fund shares would have substantially similar annual returns because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities. Unless otherwise indicated, the bar chart and the performance table assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions. This bar chart shows the performance of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund’s Class N shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q2 2020 |
|
2013 | - |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | - |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | - |
2022 | - |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 32
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Class N(1) |
|
|
|
Return Before Taxes(1) |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions(1) |
- |
- |
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares(1) |
- |
- |
|
Institutional Class(2) |
|||
Return Before Taxes(2) |
- |
|
|
Bloomberg U.S. Intermediate Government/Credit Bond Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
(1) |
|
(2) |
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Charles Luke, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, and David Krouth, Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as portfolio managers for the Fund since 2020 and 2015, respectively.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
Shares of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund may be purchased, redeemed or exchanged through the Fund’s transfer agent or through an approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each an “Authorized Institution”). Institutional Class shares of the Fund will be available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts maintained at City National Bank which meet the minimum initial investment requirement of $1,000,000 and certain tax deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. There is no minimum for subsequent investments in Institutional Class shares. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. There are no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements for the Class N shares of the Fund; however, you will have to comply with any purchase and account balance minimums of your Authorized Institution. The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
Servicing Class shares of the Fund are not currently available for purchase.
The shares of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund are redeemable on any day that the NYSE is open for business. Contact the Fund’s transfer agent at 1-866-209-1967 or your Authorized Institution for instructions on how you may redeem or exchange shares of the Fund. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Intermediate Fixed Income Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 33
Institutional Class
Class N
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 34
Class N
Servicing Class
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FIXED INCOME OPPORTUNITIES FUND
The City National Rochdale Fixed Income Opportunities Fund (the “Fixed Income Opportunities Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks a high level of current income.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses(2) |
|
|
(1) |
|
(2) |
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may
indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund
shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in
annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance.
During its most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate of the Fund was
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 35
“junk” bonds), first- and second-lien senior floating rate loans and other floating rate debt securities, bonds issued by sovereign issuers or quasi-sovereign issuers (i.e., entities that are fully guaranteed, or 100% directly or indirectly owned or controlled, by sovereign entities), and domestic and foreign corporate bonds including asset-backed securities, bank loans, zero coupon obligations, pay-in-kind bonds and trust preferred securities. The Fund also invests in agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities and asset-backed securities. The Fund’s portfolio managers determine the portion of the Fund’s assets invested in each income-based asset class. The Fund’s foreign investments include investments in companies that are operating principally in emerging market or frontier market countries. The Fund considers a company to be operating principally in an emerging market or frontier market if (i) the company is incorporated or has its principal business activities in such a market or (ii) the company derives 50% or more of its revenues from, or has 50% or more of its assets in, such a market. The Fund considers a country to be an emerging market country if it has been determined by an international organization, such as the World Bank, to have a low to middle income economy. The Fund considers a country to be a frontier market country if it is included in the MSCI Frontier Markets Index. The Fund’s foreign investments may be denominated in U.S. dollars or in local currencies.
The Fund also invests in other income-producing securities consisting of preferred stocks, high dividend paying stocks, securities issued by other investment companies (including exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”), and money market funds), and money market instruments. Up to 100% of the Fund’s assets may be held in instruments that are rated below investment grade by either by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“Standard & Poor’s”) or Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or in unrated securities determined by City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Fund’s investment adviser, or a Fund sub-adviser to be of equal quality. Although the Adviser and sub-advisers may consider credit ratings in selecting investments for the Fund, the Adviser and the sub-advisers generally base their investment decisions for a particular instrument primarily on their own credit analyses and not on a credit rating by a nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The Adviser and sub-advisers generally consider, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage. The Fund may invest in income producing securities and other instruments without regard to the maturity of any instrument or the average maturity or duration of the Fund as a whole.
The Fund may also invest up to 15% of its net assets in life insurance policies (“Policies”) and interests related thereto purchased through life settlement transactions. There are no restrictions on the percentage of the Fund’s net assets that may be held or derived from the life insurance policies of a single insurance company. In connection with such an investment a Policy owner transfers his or her Policy at a discount to its face value (the amount that is payable upon the death of the insured) in return for an immediate cash settlement. The ultimate purchaser of the Policy (in this case, the Fund) is responsible for premiums payable on the Policy and is entitled to receive the full face value from the insurance company upon the death of the insured. The Fund may invest in life insurance policies and related interests directly or through a company organized under the laws of Ireland (the “Irish Company”). The Fund generally gains exposure to Policies through the Irish Company.
The Fund may also invest in reinsurance investments providing exposure to the insurance risk of natural catastrophes. The Fund expects to gain exposure to reinsurance investments such as industry loss warranties (“ILWs”) and catastrophe bonds (also known as event-linked bonds) indirectly through structured investments in insurance company segregated accounts and/or through investments in private funds. In selecting the Fund’s investments, the Adviser or the relevant sub-adviser analyzes an issuer’s financial condition, business product strength, competitive position and management experience. The Fund may continue to own a security as long as the dividend or interest yields satisfy the Fund’s goal, the credit quality meets the Adviser’s or sub-adviser’s fundamental criteria and the Adviser or sub-adviser believes the valuation is attractive and industry trends remain favorable. Generally, in determining whether to sell a security, the Adviser or relevant sub-adviser uses the same type of analysis that it uses when buying securities to determine whether the security continues to be a desirable investment for the Fund, including consideration of the security’s current credit quality. The Adviser or sub-adviser may also sell a security to reduce the Fund’s holding in that security, to take advantage of what it believes are more attractive investment opportunities or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. None of the Fixed Income
Opportunities Fund, the Adviser or the Fund’s sub-advisers can guarantee that
the Fund will meet its investment goal.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 36
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Fixed Income Securities – The prices of fixed income securities respond to economic developments, particularly interest rate changes, as well as to perceptions about the creditworthiness of individual issuers, including governments. Generally, fixed income securities decrease in value if interest rates rise and increase in value if interest rates fall, with lower rated and longer-maturity securities more volatile than higher rated and shorter-maturity securities. Additionally, especially during periods of declining interest rates, borrowers may pay back principal before the scheduled due date, requiring the Fund to replace a particular loan or bond with another, lower-yield security.
Issuers – The Fund may be adversely affected if the issuers of securities that the Fund holds do not make their principal or interest payments on time. In addition, the Fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer.
Credit – Changes in the credit quality rating of a security or changes in an issuer’s financial condition can affect the Fund. A default on a security held by the Fund could cause the value of your investment in the Fund to decline. Investments in lower rated bank loans and lower rated debt securities involve higher credit risks. There is a relatively higher risk that the issuer of such loans or debt securities will fail to make timely payments of interest or principal, or go bankrupt. Credit risk may be high for the Fund because it invests in lower rated investment quality fixed income securities.
Interest Rates – The value of fixed income securities will fall if interest rates rise. Fixed income securities with longer maturities generally entail greater interest rate risk than those with shorter maturities. The Fund’s yield typically moves in the same direction as movements in short-term interest rates, although it does not do so as quickly. Recent and potential future changes in monetary policy made by central banks and governments are likely to impact the level of interest rates.
High Yield (“Junk”) Bonds – High yield bonds involve greater risks of default, downgrade, or price declines and are more volatile than investment grade securities. Issuers of high yield bonds may be more susceptible than other issuers to economic downturns and are subject to a greater risk that the issuer may not be able to pay interest or dividends and ultimately to repay principal upon maturity. Discontinuation of these payments could have a substantial adverse effect on the market value of the security, and could result in losses for the Fund.
Privately Placed and Restricted Securities Risk – Privately placed and restricted securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”), may be considered illiquid. Privately placed and restricted securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. The absence of an active trading market may also make it difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund’s net asset value.
Life Insurance Policies – If the Fund is unable to make premium payments on a Policy, the Policy will lapse and the Fund will lose its ownership interest in the Policy. There is currently no established secondary market for Policies, and the Policies are not considered liquid investments by the Fund. If the Fund must sell Policies to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Fund may be forced to sell at a loss. In addition, market quotations will not be readily available for the Policies and the Policies will be priced using a fair value methodology adopted by the Trust’s Board. The sales price the Fund could receive for a Policy may differ from the Adviser’s valuation of the Policy. There may be a mismatch of cash flows related to the Fund’s investment in Policies (e.g., the Irish Company may not take in enough new investment and death benefits paid on maturing life settlements to cover premium payments on existing Policies held by the Irish Company). The longer the insured lives, the lower the Fund’s rate of return on the related Policy will be. The underwriter’s estimate of the insured’s life expectancy may be incorrect. An insurance company may be unable or refuse to pay benefits on a Policy. In addition, the heirs of an insured may challenge the life insurance settlement. Although the Fund intends to only purchase Policies for which the applicable contestability period has expired, it is possible that a Policy may be subject to contest by the insurance company. A Policy is a liability of the issuing life insurance company, and if the life insurance company goes out of business, sufficient funds may not be available to pay that liability.
Reinsurance Investments – The return on reinsurance investments is contingent on the non-occurrence of a pre-defined “trigger” event, such as a hurricane or an earthquake of a specific magnitude. There is inherent uncertainty as to whether, when or where natural events will occur. If a trigger event involves losses or other metrics exceeding a specific magnitude specified in the relevant reinsurance instrument, the fund may lose a portion or all of its investment. The fund’s reinsurance investments are expected to be illiquid. Certain reinsurance investments may be difficult to value.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 37
ILWs are exposed to catastrophic risks that can lead to binary performance of individual transactions. The probability of the occurrence of events that trigger payouts with respect to ILWs may be difficult to predict. The performance of ILWs depends on determination of industry losses by a recognized third-party assessor. This dependency may cause substantial delays in either releasing the ILW collateral and premium funds to the Fund or paying it to the reinsured party, because the third-party assessor may require time to issue its findings of industry losses.
Catastrophe bonds carry large uncertainties and major risk exposures to adverse conditions. If a trigger event, as defined within the terms of a catastrophe bond, involves losses or other metrics exceeding a specific magnitude in the geographic region and time period specified, the Fund may lose a portion or all of its accrued interest and/or principal invested in such security.
Market Risk of Equity Securities – By investing directly or indirectly in stocks, the Fund may expose you to a sudden decline in the share price of a particular portfolio holding or to an overall decline in the stock market. In addition, the Fund’s principal market segment may underperform other segments or the market as a whole. The value of your investment in the Fund will fluctuate daily and cyclically based on movements in the stock market and the activities of individual companies in the Fund’s portfolio. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change. Preferred stock is subject to the risk that the dividend on the stock may be changed or omitted by the issuer, and that participation in the growth of the issuer may be limited. Preferred stock typically has “preference” over common stock in the payment of distributions and the liquidation of a company’s assets, but is subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments. In addition, preferred stock holders generally do not have voting rights with respect to the issuing company.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s and sub-advisers’ skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Sub-Adviser Allocation – The Fund’s performance is affected by the Adviser’s decisions concerning how much of the Fund’s portfolio to allocate for management by each of the Fund’s sub-advisers or to retain for management by the Adviser.
Foreign Securities – Investments in securities of foreign issuers tend to be more volatile than domestic securities because of economic and social conditions abroad, political developments, and changes in the regulatory environments of foreign countries. Changes in currency rates and exchange control regulations, and the imposition of sanctions, withholding taxes on income, confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other government restrictions by the United States and/or other governments may adversely affect the value of the Fund’s investments in foreign securities. There may be less government supervision of foreign markets. As a result, foreign issuers may not be subject to the uniform accounting, auditing, and financial reporting standards and practices applicable to domestic issuers, and there may be less publicly available information about foreign issuers. Foreign securities may be less liquid and more difficult to value than domestic securities.
Emerging Market Securities – Many of the risks with respect to foreign securities are more pronounced for investments in developing or emerging market countries. Emerging market countries may have more government exchange controls, more volatile interest and currency exchange rates, less market regulation, and less developed and less stable securities markets and economic, political, and legal systems than those of more developed countries. There may be less publicly available and reliable information about issuers in emerging markets than is available about issuers in more developed markets. In addition, emerging market countries may experience high levels of inflation and may have less liquid securities markets and less efficient trading and settlement systems. Their economies also depend heavily upon international trade and may be adversely affected by protective trade barriers and the economic and political conditions of their trading partners. In addition, there may be restrictions on investments in Chinese companies. For example, the President of the United States signed an Executive Order in 2021 prohibiting U.S. persons from purchasing or investing in publicly-traded securities of companies identified by the U.S. Government as “Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies.” The list of such companies can change from time to time, and as a result of forced selling or an inability to participate in an investment the Adviser or a sub-adviser otherwise believes is attractive, the Fund may incur losses.
Frontier Market Securities – Frontier market countries are a sub-set of emerging market countries the capital markets of which are less developed, generally less liquid and have lower market capitalization than those of the more developed, “traditional” emerging markets but which still demonstrate a relative market openness to and accessibility for foreign investors. Frontier market countries generally have smaller economies and even less developed capital markets with relatively newer and less tested regulatory and legal systems than traditional emerging markets, and, as a result, the risks discussed above with respect to emerging markets are magnified in frontier market countries. Securities issued by borrowers in frontier market countries are often subject to extreme price volatility and illiquidity and effects stemming from government ownership or control of parts of private sector and of certain companies; trade barriers, exchange controls, managed adjustments in relative currency values and other protectionist measures imposed or negotiated by the countries with which frontier market countries trade; and relatively new and unsettled securities laws.
Liquidity – Bank loans, high yield bonds, floating rate securities and lower rated securities may experience illiquidity, particularly during certain periods of financial or economic distress, causing the value of the Fund’s investments to decline. It may be more difficult for the Fund to sell its investments when they are less liquid or illiquid, and the Fund may receive less than expected. Additionally, one or more of the instruments in which the Fund invests may be permanently illiquid in nature and market prices for these instruments are unlikely to be
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 38
readily available at any time. In the absence of readily available market prices or, as is expected to be the case for certain illiquid asset-backed investments, the absence of any pricing service or observable pricing inputs, the valuation process will depend on the evaluation of factors such as prevailing interest rates, creditworthiness of the issuer, the relative value of the cash flows represented by the underlying assets and other factors. The sales price the Fund may receive for an illiquid security may differ from the Adviser’s valuation of the illiquid security.
Foreign Currency – As long as the Fund holds a foreign security, its value will be affected by the value of the local currency relative to the U.S. dollar. The value of a foreign currency may decline in relation to the U.S. dollar while the Fund holds securities denominated in such currency, and currency conversion costs and currency fluctuations could erase investment gains or add to investment losses. Currency exchange rates can be volatile and can be affected by, among other factors, the general economics of a country or the actions of the United States or foreign governments or central banks. U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers may also be affected by currency risk, as the value of these securities may also be affected by changes in the issuer’s local currency. The Fund may be unable or may choose not to hedge its foreign currency exposure.
Extension – Rising interest rates can cause the average maturity of the Fund’s holdings of mortgage-backed, asset-backed and other pass-through securities to lengthen unexpectedly due to a drop in prepayments. This would increase the sensitivity of the Fund to rising rates and the potential for price declines of portfolio securities.
Prepayments – As a general rule, prepayments of principal of loans underlying mortgage-backed, asset-backed or other pass-through securities increase during a period of falling interest rates and decrease during a period of rising interest rates. In periods of declining interest rates, as a result of prepayments the Fund may be required to reinvest its assets in securities with lower interest rates. In periods of increasing interest rates, the securities subject to prepayment risk held by the Fund may exhibit price characteristics of longer-term debt securities.
Investment through Irish Company – The Fund may invest in Policies by investing in the Irish Company. The Irish Company is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), and unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus and the SAI, is not subject to all of the investor protections of the 1940 Act and other U.S. regulations. Changes in the laws of the United States and/or Ireland could affect the ability of the Fund and/or the Irish Company to operate as described in this Prospectus and the SAI and could negatively affect the Fund and its shareholders. The Irish Company (unlike the Fund) may invest an unlimited portion of its net assets in Policies. However, the Irish Company otherwise is subject to the Fund’s investment restrictions and other policies.
Irish Company Tax Matters – Under current IRS guidance, Policy proceeds paid by a U.S. insurance company to a foreign corporation such as the Irish Company are generally subject to U.S. federal income tax withholding at a 30% rate. The Irish Company intends to qualify for benefits under the U.S.-Ireland income tax treaty which would include an exemption from such withholding. There is a risk, however, that a U.S. insurance company issuer may not respect the claimed treaty benefits and may withhold the 30% tax on the proceeds paid to the Irish Company. In such a case, the Irish Company may be able to obtain a refund from the IRS.
Any changes to the U.S.-Ireland tax treaty, U.S. or Ireland law, or the manner in which the treaty and such laws are applied to the Irish Company or the Fund, may have an adverse tax effect on the Irish Company, the Fund and its shareholders.
LIBOR Risk – Many financial instruments, financings or other transactions to which the Fund may be a party use or may use a floating rate based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In July 2017, the Financial Conduct Authority, the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, announced that after 2021 it would cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR. The publication of LIBOR on a representative basis ceased for the one-week and two-month U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after December 31, 2021, and it is expected to cease for the remaining U.S. dollar LIBOR settings immediately after June 30, 2023. Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to determine, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to, (i) existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallback provisions for both legacy and new products and instruments. The transition process may involve, among other things, increased volatility or illiquidity in markets for instruments that currently rely on LIBOR, and there may be a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund.
Bank Loans – The Fund may invest in U.S. and non-U.S. bank loans. Bank loans are not traded on an exchange and purchasers and sellers of bank loans generally rely on market makers, typically the administrative agent under a bank loan, to effect private sales transactions. As a result, bank loans may have relatively less liquidity than other types of fixed income assets, and the Fund may be more likely to incur losses on the sale of bank loans than on other, more liquid, investments.
Loan instruments may not be readily marketable and may be subject to restrictions on resale. In some cases, negotiations involved in disposing of loans may require weeks to complete. Thus, transactions in loan instruments may take longer than seven days to settle. This could pose a liquidity risk to the Fund and, if the Fund’s exposure to such investments is substantial, could impair the Fund’s ability to meet shareholder redemptions in a timely manner.
The Fund’s investments in non-U.S. bank loans are subject to additional risks including future unfavorable political and economic developments, possible withholding taxes on interest income, seizure or nationalization of foreign deposits, currency controls, interest limitations, or other governmental restrictions which might affect the payment of principal or interest on the bank loans held by the Fund.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 39
Collateralized Loan Obligations – CLOs are securities backed by an underlying portfolio of loan obligations. CLOs issue classes or “tranches” that vary in risk and yield and may experience substantial losses due to actual defaults, decrease in market value due to collateral defaults and removal of subordinate tranches, market anticipation of defaults and investor aversion to CLO securities as a class. The risks of investing in CLOs depend largely on the tranche invested in and the type of the underlying loans in the tranche of the CLO in which the Fund invests. CLOs also carry risks including, but not limited to, interest rate risk and credit risk, which are described herein. For example, a liquidity crisis in the global credit markets could cause substantial fluctuations in prices for leveraged loans and high-yield debt securities and limited liquidity for such instruments. When the Fund invests in CLOs, in addition to directly bearing the expenses associated with its own operations, it may bear a pro rata portion of the CLO’s expenses.
ETFs – ETFs typically trade on securities exchanges and their shares may, at times, trade at a premium or discount to their net asset values. In addition, an ETF may not replicate exactly the performance of the benchmark index or group of indices it seeks to track for a number of reasons, including transaction costs incurred by the ETF, the temporary unavailability of certain index securities in the secondary market or discrepancies between the ETF and the index with respect to the weighting of securities or the number of securities held.
By investing in the Fund, shareholders indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the ETFs in which the Fund invests, in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect ETFs and the investment company industry generally.
Closed-End Funds – Unlike conventional mutual funds which continually offer new shares for sale to the investing public, closed-end funds (“CEFs”) are exchange-traded and issue only a limited number of shares. CEFs may trade at a discount or premium to their net asset value and may trade at a larger discount or smaller premium subsequent to purchase by the Fund. In addition, CEFs may trade infrequently, with small volume, which may make it difficult for the Fund to buy and sell shares. Also, CEFs are allowed to invest in a greater amount of illiquid securities than mutual funds, and CEFs may employ leverage to a greater extent than mutual funds.
Financial Services Firms – The Fund invests in obligations of financial services firms, including those of banks. Changes in economic conditions and government regulations can significantly affect these issuers.
Tax Matters – To qualify for treatment as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), the Fund must meet certain requirements including requirements regarding the composition of its income. Any income the Fund derives from direct investments in Policies may be considered non-qualifying income and must be limited, along with investments in any other non-qualifying sources, to a maximum of 10% of the Fund’s gross income in any fiscal year. In addition, the Fund may invest in Policies through the Irish Company. The Irish Company is treated as a “controlled foreign corporation” (a “CFC”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Under U.S. federal income tax law, the Fund’s income attributable to the Irish Company will be treated as qualifying income to the extent of appropriate annual payments by the Irish Company to the Fund. The Irish Company intends to pay substantially all its net income and gain each year to the Fund. Nevertheless, the Fund might generate more non-qualifying income than anticipated (e.g., because of the Fund’s direct investments), might not be able to generate qualifying income in a particular fiscal year at levels sufficient to limit its non-qualifying income to 10% of the Fund’s gross income, or might not be able to determine the percentage of qualifying income it derives for a taxable year until after year-end. If the Fund fails to meet this 10% requirement, the Fund might not be eligible for treatment as a RIC, in which case it would be subject to federal income tax on its net income at the regular corporate rate. Alternatively, if the Fund fails to meet the 10% requirement, the Fund might be able to pay a tax equal to the amount of the non-qualifying income to the extent it exceeds one-ninth of the Fund’s qualifying income. The tax treatment of the Policies and the Fund’s investments in the Irish Company may be adversely affected by future legislation, Treasury Regulations and/or guidance issued by the IRS that could, among other things, affect the character, timing and/or amount of the Fund’s taxable income or gains and of distributions made by the Fund.
Underlying Funds – To the extent the Fund invests in other funds, the risks associated with investing in the Fund are closely related to the risks associated with the securities and other investments held by the underlying funds. The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment goal depends in part upon the ability of the underlying funds to achieve their investment goals. The underlying funds may not achieve their investment goals. In addition, by investing in the Fund, shareholders indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the underlying funds in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect these underlying funds and the investment company industry generally.
Volatility – Because of the speculative nature of the income securities in which the Fund invests, the Fund may fluctuate in price more than other bond and income funds.
Portfolio Turnover – The Fund will sell a security when its portfolio managers believe it is appropriate to do so, regardless of how long the Fund has owned that security. Buying and selling securities generally involves some expense to the Fund, such as commissions paid to brokers and other transaction costs. By selling a security, the Fund may realize taxable capital gains that it will subsequently distribute to shareholders. Generally speaking, the higher the Fund’s annual portfolio turnover, the greater its brokerage costs and the greater the likelihood that it will realize taxable capital gains. Increased brokerage costs may adversely affect the Fund’s performance. Annual portfolio turnover of 100% or more is considered high.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 40
Rating Agencies – Credit ratings are issued by rating agencies, which are private entities that provide ratings of the credit quality of debt obligations. A credit rating is not an absolute standard of quality, but rather a general indicator that reflects only the views of the originating rating agency. If a rating agency revises downward or withdraws its rating of a security in which the Fund invests, that security may become less liquid or may lose value. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the issuers of the securities they rate.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goal.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, the sub-advisers, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
The Fund’s predecessor, the Rochdale Fixed Income Opportunities Portfolio, commenced operations on July 1, 2009, as a series of Rochdale Investment Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the “Predecessor Fund”). The Fixed Income Opportunities Fund commenced operations on March 29, 2013, and offered shares of the Fund for public sale on April 1, 2013, after the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund. The Fund has adopted an investment goal and investment strategies and policies substantially similar to those of the Predecessor Fund.
In the bar chart and the performance table, the performance results prior to March 29, 2013, are for the Predecessor Fund. Class N shares of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund and the Predecessor Fund shares would have substantially similar annual returns because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities. Unless otherwise indicated, the bar chart and the performance table assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s Class N shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q2 2020 |
|
2013 | |
2014 | - |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | - |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | |
2022 | - |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 41
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Class N(1) |
|
| |
Return Before Taxes(1) |
- |
- |
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions(1) |
- |
- |
- |
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares(1) |
- |
- |
|
Bloomberg Global Aggregate Corporate Total Return Index Hedged USD (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
Blended Index - 40/35/25 hybrid of the following three indices: |
- |
|
|
Bloomberg Multiverse Total Return Index Value Hedged USD S&P Global Leveraged Loan Index Bloomberg Emerging Markets High Yield Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
(1) |
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
SUB-ADVISERS
Alcentra Limited
Alcentra NY, LLC
AllFinancial Partners II, LLC
Federated Investment Management Company
Seix Investment Advisors LLC
T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Thomas H. Ehrlein, the Adviser’s Director, Portfolio and Alternative Analytics Group, and Charles Luke, Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Messrs. Ehrlein and Luke have served as portfolio managers for the Fund since May 2020.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. Shares of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund may be purchased, redeemed or exchanged through the Fund’s transfer agent or through an approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each an “Authorized Institution”). There are no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements for the Class N shares of the Fund; however, you will have to comply with any purchase and account balance minimums of your Authorized Institution. The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
Servicing Class shares of the Fund are not currently available for purchase.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 42
Class N
The shares of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund are redeemable on any day that the NYSE is open for business. Contact the Fund’s transfer agent at 1-866-209-1967 or your Authorized Institution for instructions on how you may redeem or exchange shares of the Fund. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Fixed Income Opportunities Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 43
Class N
Servicing Class
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE EQUITY INCOME FUND
The City National Rochdale Equity Income Fund (the “Equity Income Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide significant income and long-term capital appreciation.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the Equity Income Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
(1) |
|
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Equity Income Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells
securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may
indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund
shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in
annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s performance.
During its most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate of the Fund was
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 44
In selecting the Fund’s equity securities, City National Rochdale, LLC (the “Adviser”), the Fund’s investment adviser, generally seeks companies that pay above-average, stable dividend yields compared to the dividend yield of the S&P 500 Index and have the ability to grow yields over time. The Fund may continue to own a security as long as the dividend or interest yields satisfy the Fund’s goals, and the Adviser believes the valuation is attractive and industry trends remain favorable.
The Adviser may determine to sell a security under several circumstances, including but not limited to when its target value is realized, the company’s earnings deteriorate, more attractive investment alternatives are identified, or to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the Equity Income
Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goals.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Equity Securities – By investing in stocks, the Fund may expose you to a sudden decline in the share price of a particular portfolio holding or to an overall decline in the stock market. In addition, the Fund’s principal market segment may underperform other segments or the market as a whole. The value of your investment in the Fund will fluctuate daily and cyclically based on movements in the stock market and the activities of individual companies in the Fund’s portfolio. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change. Preferred stock is subject to the risk that the dividend on the stock may be changed or omitted by the issuer, and that participation in the growth of the issuer may be limited. Preferred stock typically has “preference” over common stock in the payment of distributions and the liquidation of a company’s assets, but is subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments. In addition, preferred stock holders generally do not have voting rights with respect to the issuing company.
Small- and Medium-Capitalization (Mid-Cap) Companies – Investments in small-capitalization and mid-capitalization companies may involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies, such as limited product lines, markets and financial or managerial resources. The securities of smaller capitalized companies may have greater price volatility and less liquidity than the securities of larger capitalized companies. The Fund may hold a significant percentage of a company’s outstanding shares and may have to sell them at a discount from quoted prices.
Large-Capitalization Companies – Larger, more established companies may be unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies during periods of economic expansion.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Real Estate Investment Trusts – REITs’ share prices may decline because of adverse developments affecting the real estate industry, including changes in interest rates. The returns from REITs may trail returns of the overall market. Additionally, it is possible that a REIT will fail to qualify for favorable tax treatment. REITs typically incur fees that are separate from those of the Fund. Accordingly, the Fund’s investments in REITs will result in the layering of expenses such that shareholders will indirectly bear a proportionate share of the REITs’ operating expenses.
Sector Exposure – Market conditions, interest rates, and economic, regulatory, or financial developments could significantly affect all the securities in a single sector. The Fund may invest a larger portion of its assets in one or more sectors than many other mutual funds and thus may be more susceptible to negative events affecting those sectors. For example, as of December 31, 2022, a significant portion of the Fund’s assets was invested in the consumer staples sector. Companies in the consumer staples sector are subject to government regulation affecting their products which may negatively affect such companies’ performance. Also, the success of consumer staples companies may be strongly affected by consumer interest, marketing campaigns and other factors affecting supply and demand, including performance of the overall domestic and international economy, interest rates, competition and consumer confidence and spending.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 45
Underlying Funds – To the extent the Fund invests in other funds, the risks associated with investing in the Fund are closely related to the risks associated with the securities and other investments held by the underlying funds. The ability of the Fund to achieve its investment goals depends in part upon the ability of the underlying funds to achieve their investment goals. The underlying funds may not achieve their investment goals. In addition, by investing in the Fund, shareholders indirectly bear fees and expenses charged by the underlying funds in addition to the Fund’s direct fees and expenses. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect these underlying funds and the investment company industry generally.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
The Fund’s predecessor, the Rochdale Dividend & Income Portfolio, commenced operations on June 1, 1999, as a series of Rochdale Investment Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the “Predecessor Fund”). The Fund commenced operations on March 29, 2013, and offered shares of the Fund for public sale on April 1, 2013, after the reorganization of the Predecessor Fund into the City National Rochdale Dividend & Income Fund (the “Dividend & Income Fund”). The Dividend & Income Fund adopted investment goals and investment strategies and policies identical to those of the Predecessor Fund. The Dividend & Income Fund changed its name to the Equity Income Fund effective October 1, 2021. In accordance with regulatory requirements, effective as of the same date, the Fund adopted a policy that under normal market conditions, at least 80% of the Fund’s net assets (plus any borrowings for investment purposes) consists of equity securities. The adoption of this policy did not result in any material changes to the Fund’s investment program.
In the bar chart and the performance table, the performance results prior to March 29, 2013, are for the Predecessor Fund. Class N shares of the Equity Income Fund and the Predecessor Fund shares would have substantially similar annual returns because the shares are invested in the same portfolio of securities. Unless otherwise indicated, the bar chart and the performance table assume reinvestment of dividends and distributions.
This bar chart shows the performance of the Equity Income Fund’s Class N shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q4 2022 |
|
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | - |
2019 | |
2020 | - |
2021 | |
2022 | - |
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 46
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the Equity Income Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of investments similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Years |
Ten Years |
Class N(1) |
|||
Return Before Taxes(1) |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions(1) |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares(1) |
|
|
|
Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
|
|
|
(1) |
|
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGERS
Tony Hu, Director and Senior Equity Analyst of the Adviser, and David Shapiro, Director and Senior Equity Analyst of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Messrs. Hu and Shapiro have served as portfolio managers for the Fund since 2021.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. Shares of the Equity Income Fund may be purchased, redeemed or exchanged through the Fund’s transfer agent or through an approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each an “Authorized Institution”). There are no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements for the Class N shares of the Fund; however, you will have to comply with any purchase and account balance minimums of your Authorized Institution. The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
Servicing Class shares of the Fund are not currently available for purchase.
The shares of the Equity Income Fund are redeemable on any day that the NYSE is open for business. Contact the Fund’s transfer agent at 1-866-209-1967 or your Authorized Institution for instructions on how you may redeem or exchange shares of the Fund. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The Equity Income Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains. A portion of distributions may be treated as a return of capital for tax purposes.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 47
Class N
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the Equity Income Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 48
Institutional Class
Servicing Class
Class N
The City National Rochdale U.S. Core Equity Fund (the “U.S. Core Equity Fund” or the “Fund”) seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation.
The table below describes the fees and expenses you may pay if you buy, hold, and sell shares of the U.S. Core Equity Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the table and example below.
(expenses
that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
Institutional Class |
Servicing Class |
Class N |
Management Fees |
|
|
|
Distribution (12b-1) Fee |
|
|
|
Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Shareholder Servicing Fee |
|
|
|
Other Fund Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Other Expenses |
|
|
|
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses |
|
|
|
This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the U.S. Core Equity Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the U.S. Core Equity Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. 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 |
||||||||||||
Institutional Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Servicing Class |
$ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Class N |
$ | $ | $ | $ |
The
U.S. Core Equity Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys
and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio
turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher
taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not
reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the example, affect the Fund’s
performance. During its most recent fiscal year, the portfolio turnover rate of
the Fund was
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 49
The Adviser uses a multifactor investment approach employing a combination of macroeconomic, quantitative and fundamental analyses to select companies with share price growth potential that may not be recognized by the market at large. Macroeconomic analysis evaluates investment themes, geopolitical events, monetary and fiscal policy and global economic trends. Quantitative analysis seeks to measure the value of securities by using mathematical and statistical modeling and research. Fundamental analysis of a security involves measuring its intrinsic value by examining related economic, financial and other factors, such as the overall economy and industry conditions, and the financial condition and management of the issuer.
In selecting securities for the Fund, the Adviser utilizes proprietary industry and stock selection models to determine which industries and companies it believes are likely to provide superior risk adjusted returns. The Adviser also employs a proprietary company analysis framework to evaluate individual securities by examining fundamental data such as management quality, revenue and earnings growth, profitability, market share, cash flow and balance sheet strength. The Adviser seeks to manage the portfolio’s risk characteristics to be similar to those of the S&P 500 Index. The Adviser constructs the portfolio to closely resemble the S&P 500 Index with respect to factors such as market capitalization, earnings per share growth rates, return on equity, price to earnings, price to book and other commonly recognized portfolio characteristics.
The Adviser may determine to sell a security under several circumstances, including but not limited to when its target value is realized, when the company’s earnings deteriorate, when more attractive investment alternatives are identified, or when it wishes to raise cash.
As
with any mutual fund, there are risks to investing. Neither the U.S. Core Equity
Fund nor the Adviser can guarantee that the Fund will meet its investment goal.
Market Risk – The market price of a security may move up and down, sometimes rapidly and unpredictably, due to general market conditions such as overall economic trends or events, government actions, market disruptions caused by trade disputes or other factors, political and geopolitical factors, economic sanctions, adverse investor sentiment, cybersecurity events, or local, regional or global events such as wars, terrorism, epidemics, pandemics or other public health issues. These fluctuations may cause a security to be worth less than the price originally paid for it, or less than it was worth at an earlier time. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or the market as a whole. The value of the Fund’s investments may decline in tandem with a drop in the overall value of the stock market based on negative developments in the U.S. and global economies. Adverse market conditions may be prolonged and may not have the same impact on all types of securities.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the large expansion of government deficits and debt as a result of government actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the rise of inflation have resulted in extreme volatility in the global economy and in global financial markets. These events could be prolonged and could continue to adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund’s investments, impair the Fund’s ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Fund’s performance.
Market Risk of Equity Securities – By investing in common stocks, the Fund may expose you to a sudden decline in the share price of a particular portfolio holding or to an overall decline in the stock market. In addition, the Fund’s principal market segment may underperform other segments or the market as a whole. The market may also undervalue the stocks held by the Fund. The value of your investment in the Fund will fluctuate daily based on movements in the stock market and the activities of individual companies in the Fund’s portfolio. Common stocks are susceptible to general stock market fluctuations and to volatile increases and decreases in value as market confidence in and perceptions of their issuers change.
Investment Style – The Adviser primarily uses a core equity style to select investments for the Fund and will often choose equities that it considers to be “growth at a reasonable price” (GARP). These styles may fall out of favor, may underperform other styles and may cause volatility in the Fund’s share price.
Medium-Capitalization (Mid-Cap) Companies – Investments in mid-cap companies may involve greater risks than investments in larger, more established companies, such as limited product lines, markets and financial or managerial resources. In addition, the securities of mid-cap companies may have greater price volatility and less liquidity than the securities of larger capitalized companies.
Large-Capitalization Companies – Larger, more established companies may be unable to attain the high growth rates of successful, smaller companies during periods of economic expansion.
Management – The Fund’s performance depends on the Adviser’s skill in making appropriate investments. As a result, the Fund’s investment strategies may not work as intended or otherwise fail to produce the desired results, and the Fund may underperform the markets in which it invests or similar funds.
Sector Exposure – Market conditions, interest rates, and economic, regulatory, or financial developments could significantly affect all the securities in a single sector. The Fund may invest a larger portion of its assets in one or more sectors than many other mutual funds and thus may be more susceptible to negative events affecting those sectors. For example, as of December 31, 2022, a significant portion of the Fund’s assets was invested in the information technology sector. Performance of companies in the information technology sector may be adversely affected by many factors, including, among others, the supply and demand for specific products and services, the pace of
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 50
technological development and government regulation. Some significant challenges facing companies in the information technology sector include distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in formulating new products and services, technological innovations that make existing products and services obsolete, and satisfying consumer demand.
Defensive Investments – During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, the Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents that would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goal.
Redemptions – The Fund may experience heavy redemptions, particularly during periods of declining or illiquid markets, that could cause the Fund to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value. Redemption risk is greater to the extent that the Fund has investors with large shareholdings, short investment horizons, or unpredictable cash flow needs.
Cybersecurity Risk – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Fund, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. In an extreme case, a shareholder’s ability to exchange or redeem Fund shares may be affected. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Conflicts of Interest – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Fund and its shareholders.
This bar chart shows the performance of the U.S. Core Equity Fund’s Institutional Class shares based on a calendar year.
|
Q2 2020 |
|
2013 | |
2014 | |
2015 | |
2016 | |
2017 | |
2018 | - |
2019 | |
2020 | |
2021 | |
2022 | - |
This table shows the average annual total returns of each class of the U.S. Core Equity Fund for the periods ended December 31, 2022. The table also shows how the Fund’s performance compares with the returns of indices comprised of companies similar to those held by the Fund.
|
One Year |
Five Year |
Ten Year |
Institutional Class |
|
| |
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions |
- |
|
|
Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares |
- |
|
|
Servicing Class |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
Class N |
|||
Return Before Taxes |
- |
|
|
S&P 500 Index (Reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
- |
|
|
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 51
INVESTMENT ADVISER
City National Rochdale, LLC
PORTFOLIO MANAGER
Thomas A. Galvin, Chief Investment Officer of the Adviser, and Amy Chen, Director and Senior Equity Analyst of the Adviser, are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and have served as the portfolio managers for the Fund since 2012 and 2022, respectively.
PURCHASE AND SALE OF FUND SHARES
The Servicing Class shares of the Fund are available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts, including separately managed accounts advised by the Adviser, maintained at City National Bank and certain retirement plan platforms. Institutional Class shares of the Fund will be available only to fiduciary, advisory, agency, custodial and other similar accounts maintained at City National Bank which meet the minimum initial investment requirement of $1,000,000, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. There is no minimum for subsequent investments in Institutional Class shares. The Class N shares of the Fund are available to individual investors, partnerships, corporations and other accounts, including separately managed accounts of the Adviser not maintained at City National Bank, and certain tax-deferred retirement plans (including 401(k) plans, employer-sponsored 403(b) plans, 457 plans, profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensation plans) held in plan level or omnibus accounts. There are no minimum purchase or minimum shareholder account balance requirements for Servicing Class or Class N shares; however, you will have to comply with the purchase and account balance minimums of your approved broker-dealer or other financial institution (each, an “Authorized Institution”). The Fund may require each Authorized Institution to meet certain aggregate investment levels before it may open an account with the Fund on behalf of its customers. Contact your Authorized Institution for more information.
The shares of the U.S. Core Equity Fund are redeemable. You may redeem your shares only through your Authorized Institution. To redeem shares of the Fund, you should contact your Authorized Institution and follow its procedures, including deadlines for receipt by the Authorized Institution of your share redemption instructions. Your Authorized Institution may charge a fee for its services, in addition to the fees charged by the Fund.
TAX INFORMATION
The U.S. Core Equity Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income, qualified dividend income, or capital gains.
Supplemental tax reporting information concerning the City National Rochdale Funds is posted online at www.citynationalrochdalefunds.com under the “Important Tax Information” tab.
PAYMENTS TO BROKER-DEALERS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
If you purchase the U.S. Core Equity Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Fund and its related companies may pay the intermediary for the sale of Fund shares and related services. 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 web site for more information.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 52
more about the funds
For ease of reference, this Prospectus refers to certain sub-groups of the City National Rochdale Funds (the “Trust”) as follows:
● |
Bond Funds – Government Bond Fund, Corporate Bond Fund, California Tax Exempt Bond Fund, Muni High Income Fund, Intermediate Fixed Income Fund, Fixed Income Opportunities Fund |
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Equity Funds – Equity Income Fund and U.S. Core Equity Fund |
● |
Funds – Government Money Fund, Bond Funds, Equity Funds |
The investment goal(s) of each Fund, except for the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund, Fixed Income Opportunities Fund and Equity Income Fund, can only be changed with shareholder approval. The investment goal(s) of each of the Intermediate Fixed Income Fund, Fixed Income Opportunities Fund and Equity Income Fund is non-fundamental and can be changed without shareholder approval by the Funds’ Board of Trustees upon at least 60 days’ notice to shareholders. For all Funds other than the California Tax Exempt Bond Fund, any policy to invest at least 80% of a Fund’s net assets in specific types of investments may be changed by the Funds’ Board of Trustees upon at least 60 days’ notice to shareholders.
If you wish to learn more about each Fund’s principal investments and other securities in which each Fund may invest, please review the SAI.
More about the Government Money Fund
MORE ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
MATURITY
The Government Money Fund invests in securities that, at the time of purchase, have remaining maturities of 397 days or less. The Government Money Fund maintains a weighted average maturity of not more than 60 days and a weighted average life of not more than 120 days in accordance with applicable regulations. If, after purchase, the maturity on a security is extended, the Adviser or the Board of Trustees (if required by applicable regulations) will decide whether the security should be held or sold.
LIQUIDITY
The Government Money Fund must follow strict rules with respect to the liquidity of its portfolio securities, including, as applicable, daily and weekly liquidity requirements. In addition, the Government Money Fund may not purchase illiquid securities if, as a result of the acquisition, more than 5% of the Fund’s total assets would be invested in illiquid securities. Illiquid securities are those that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the securities. Securities that are deemed liquid at the time of purchase by a Fund may become illiquid following purchase.
More about the Bond Funds
The Adviser periodically reviews the creditworthiness of issuers held by the Bond Funds. The Adviser’s credit analysis process includes not only a review of the rating agencies’ assigned ratings but also a review of the specific factors central to those ratings assessments, as well as the factors that could cause a change in the assigned ratings. See the SAI for a discussion of fixed income ratings.
The Adviser and the applicable sub-advisers consider duration, among other factors, in selecting fixed income securities for the Bond Funds. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a portfolio’s duration, the more sensitive it is to changes in interest rates.
MORE ABOUT THE MUNI HIGH INCOME FUND
The Adviser periodically reviews the creditworthiness of issuers held by the Muni High Income Fund. The Adviser’s credit analysis process includes not only a review of the rating agencies’ assigned ratings but also a review of the specific factors central to those ratings assessments, as well as the factors that could cause a change in the assigned ratings. The Adviser considers, among other things, the issuer’s financial resources and operating history, its sensitivity to economic conditions and trends, the ability of its management, its debt maturity schedules and borrowing requirements, and relative values based on anticipated cash flow, interest and asset coverage, and earnings prospects. See the SAI for a discussion of fixed income ratings.
The Adviser considers duration, among other factors, in selecting fixed income securities for the Muni High Income Fund. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a portfolio’s duration, the more sensitive it is to changes in interest rates.
The Fund primarily invests in revenue bonds, which are payable only from specific sources, such as the revenue from a particular project, a special tax, lease payments and/or appropriated funds. Revenue bonds include certain private activity bonds (“PABs”), which finance privately operated facilities. Revenue bonds also include housing bonds that finance pools of single-family home mortgages and student loan bonds that finance pools of student loans, as well as bonds that finance charter schools. Revenue bonds also include tobacco bonds that are issued by state-created special purpose entities as a means to securitize a state’s share of annual tobacco settlement revenues.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 53
MORE ABOUT THE INTERMEDIATE FIXED INCOME FUND
The Intermediate Fixed Income Fund’s investments in debt obligations of the U.S. Government and its agencies consist primarily of U.S. Treasury obligations, bonds and mortgage-backed securities issued by the following agencies: Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae (formerly known as the Federal National Mortgage Association), Freddie Mac (formerly known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation), Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, Federal Farm Credit Banks, Ginnie Mae (formerly known as the Government National Mortgage Association), and Tennessee Valley Authority. These obligations include securities supported by the right of the issuer to borrow from the U.S. Treasury (e.g., the Federal Home Loan Banks), securities supported by the discretionary authority of the U.S. Government to purchase certain obligations of the agency (such as securities issued by Fannie Mae), securities supported only by the credit of the instrumentality (such as securities issued by Freddie Mac), and securities backed solely by the revenue generated by the instrumentality (such as securities issued by Tennessee Valley Authority). In the case of obligations not backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, the Fund must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteed the obligation for ultimate repayment and may not be able to assert a claim against the United States itself in the event the agency or instrumentality does not meet its commitments.
MORE ABOUT THE FIXED INCOME OPPORTUNITIES FUND
The Adviser serves as the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s primary investment adviser and retains the authority to manage the Fund’s assets. The Adviser has, however, engaged seven sub-advisers, Alcentra Limited (“Alcentra”), Alcentra NY, LLC (“Alcentra NY”), AllFinancial Partners II, LLC (“AllFinancial”), Federated Investment Management Company (“Federated”), Seix Investment Advisors LLC (“Seix”), and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. (“T. Rowe Price,” and together with Alcentra, Alcentra NY, AllFinancial, Federated and Seix, the “Sub-Advisers”) to make day-to-day investment decisions for portions of the Fund and, in particular, to manage the Fund’s investments in high yield securities, bank loans, CLOs, private loans, royalties, life insurance policies and related instruments. The Adviser is responsible for overseeing and monitoring the Sub-Advisers.
The investment selection process followed by each of Alcentra, Alcentra NY, Federated, Seix and T. Rowe Price, and information regarding AllFinancial’s role with respect to the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in Policies, is summarized below.
The Fund may hold low or non-dividend paying stocks from time to time, including as a result of a restructuring of a debt instrument held by the Fund.
THE ALCENTRA INVESTMENT SELECTION PROCESS
Alcentra is primarily responsible for the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in European non-investment grade bank loans. Alcentra seeks to identify investment opportunities that combine an attractive current return with a strong probability of ultimate return of capital.
Alcentra employs a rigorous process for reviewing and analyzing potential investment opportunities, drawing on external, independent due diligence material as well as the work and experience of Alcentra analysts in the relevant industry sector. The key components of the investment process are sourcing, due diligence, suitability assessment, on-going monitoring, and portfolio management. The process involves a detailed review of a company’s industry position, cash flow consistency and sustainability, liquidity, capital structure, leverage, and management capabilities, followed by an in-depth review of structure and documentation including collateral pledge and security agreements. Following the completion of the due diligence process, the potential investment is submitted to Alcentra’s Investment Committee for final approval.
THE ALCENTRA NY AND ALCENTRA LIMITED INVESTMENT SELECTION PROCESS
Together with Alcentra Limited, Alcentra NY (together, “Alcentra Group”) is responsible for the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in U.S. and European CLO mezzanine securities with a rating at time of purchase ranging from B-/B3 to A+/A1, or equivalent. Alcentra Group seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by investing predominantly in what Alcentra Group believes to be undervalued mezzanine tranches of U.S. and European CLOs.
Alcentra Group’s CLO investment philosophy is based on a credit focused, bottom-up approach. The key components of the investment process are sourcing, fundamental analysis, team discussion and investment decision, execution and trading, and monitoring. The investment process is underpinned by detailed fundamental credit analysis. The four underlying elements of this fundamental analysis are: 1) collateral analysis; 2) liability analytics; 3) cash flow analytics, and 4) documentation review. During its analysis, Alcentra Group focuses on several areas including default and downgrade rates, yield, price, potential investment return, and the weighted average life of the investment. When analyzing the value and suitability of CLO tranches Alcentra Group also considers the collateral composition, subordination levels and cash flows, and reviews underlying collateral for downgrade and default risk of individual assets, recovery rate expectations, the amount of second lien and mezzanine exposure in the portfolio, the pricing of the underlying assets, distressed assets within the pool and pre-payment rates. The suitability of an investment is a consensus-driven process; however, the ultimate buy/sell decisions are made by the portfolio managers.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 54
THE FEDERATED INVESTMENT SELECTION PROCESS
Federated is primarily responsible for the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in high yield securities. In making investment decisions with respect to high yield securities, Federated selects securities it believes have attractive risk-return characteristics. Federated typically analyzes the issuer’s financial condition, business and product strength, competitive position and management expertise in an effort to seek to identify issuers with the ability to meet their obligations and the potential to improve their overall financial health. Federated strives to adhere to a strong sell discipline and generally effects a sale if it believes a security’s future total return has become less attractive relative to other securities, the company begins to perform poorly, the industry outlook changes, or any other event occurs that changes Federated’s investment conclusion.
As part of analysis inherent in its security selection process, among other factors, Federated also evaluates whether environmental, social and governance factors could have positive or negative impact on the risk profiles of many issuers in the universe of securities in which the Fund may invest.
Federated may also consider information derived from active engagements conducted by its in-house stewardship team with certain issuers or guarantors on environmental, social and governance topics. This qualitative analysis does not automatically result in including or excluding specific securities but may be used by Federated as an additional in its primary analysis.
THE SEIX INVESTMENT SELECTION PROCESS
Seix is primarily responsible for the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in floating rate securities and high yield bank loans and bonds. In deciding which debt securities to buy or sell, Seix typically emphasizes debt instruments that are in the higher rated segment of the high yield market — i.e., BB & B rated credits (rated either BB or B by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services or Ba or b by Moody’s Investors Service or securities deemed of comparable quality by Seix). Seix uses an investment approach that employs a targeted universe, in-depth company research, active but constrained industry weightings, and what it believes to be optimal security structures.
Security selection is the key component of this process. Seix undertakes rigorous credit research and analysis in an effort to identify value opportunities, and Seix analysts and portfolio managers continuously monitor individual issuers as well as the industries in which the Fund may invest. Seix establishes return expectations and sell targets for each issuer in which Seix invests assets of the Fund.
THE T. ROWE PRICE INVESTMENT SELECTION PROCESS
T. Rowe Price is responsible for a portion of the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in high yield emerging market securities. T. Rowe Price focuses its investments on bonds issued by corporate issuers that are located or listed in, or conduct the predominant part of their business activities in, the emerging market countries of Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Security selection relies heavily on research, which analyzes political and economic trends as well as the creditworthiness of particular issuers. This in-depth analysis seeks to identify shifts in country fundamentals, and considers the risk adjusted attractiveness of various emerging market countries.
THE FUND’S INVESTMENTS IN POLICIES
The Fund has retained AllFinancial to provide certain non-discretionary advisory, administrative and oversight services with respect to the Fixed Income Opportunities Fund’s investments in Policies. The Fund may invest in Policies directly or through the Irish Company. The Irish Company is advised by the Adviser. The Fund complies with the provisions of the 1940 Act, including those relating to investment policies (Section 8) and capital structure and leverage (Section 18) on an aggregate basis with the Irish Company, and the Irish Company complies with the provisions relating to affiliated transactions and custody (Section 17). The investment restrictions of the Fund and the Irish Company, as disclosed in the Fund’s principal investment strategies and risks, are considered in the aggregate. The investment advisory agreement with the Irish Company complies with Section 15 of the 1940 Act as if the investment adviser to the Irish Company were the investment adviser to the Fund.
The Policies may include whole, universal, variable universal, term and survivorship Policies. The Fund will not invest in Policies resulting from stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI) transactions (transactions in which an investor induces a senior citizen to take out a life insurance policy, not for the purpose of protecting his or her family, but for the purpose of transferring the policy to the investor for a financial benefit). The Fund’s investments in Policies consist primarily of Policies issued by insurance companies rated B+ or better for financial stability by AMBEST and/or BB+ or better by Standard & Poor’s (or a rating of similar quality or better by a different nationally recognized statistical ratings organization). Before the Fund invests in any Policy, AllFinancial performs a due diligence review of the insured owner of the Policy and recommends to the Adviser that the Fund invest in the Policy. AllFinancial generally expects to recommend only Policies issued by U.S. life insurance companies and for which the insured is over the age of
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 55
65. The Fund will not purchase Policies directly from insureds. The Fund will not invest in Policies covering an insured who has a terminal illness and is expected to die within two years. The life expectancies of the insureds covered by the Policies held by the Fund are expected to range from one to eleven years and the weighted average life expectancy of the insureds is not expected to exceed five years. The Fund is required to make ongoing premium payments for Policies in which it invests and may set aside a portion of its net assets to be used to make future policy premium payments.
Portfolio Holdings
A description of the Funds’ policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of portfolio holdings is available in the SAI.
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 56
more about the funds’ risks
PRINCIPAL RISKS OF THE FUNDS
Set forth below is more information about certain of the principal risks that apply to the Funds:
Bank Loans (Intermediate Fixed Income Fund and Fixed Income Opportunities Fund) – Fixed income assets, including bank loans, pay fixed, variable or floating rates of interest. The value of such assets will change in response to fluctuations in market spreads and interest rates. In particular, a decline in the level of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) or any other applicable floating rate index could reduce the interest payments that a Fund receives with respect to such investments. In addition, the value of certain fixed-income assets can decrease in response to changes or perceptions of changes in issuers’ creditworthiness, foreign exchange rates, political stability or soundness of economic policies, among other considerations.
The purchase and sale of bank loans are subject to the terms and conditions of the underlying credit agreements, which may substantially limit the number of purchasers that may be eligible to purchase such bank loans. Bank loans are not traded on an exchange and purchasers and sellers of bank loans generally rely on market makers, typically the administrative agent under a bank loan, to effect private sales transactions. As a result of these limitations, bank loans may have relatively less liquidity than other types of fixed income assets, and a Fund may be more likely to incur losses on the sale of bank loans than on other, more liquid, investments. Loan instruments may not be readily marketable and may be subject to restrictions on resale. In some cases, negotiations involved in disposing of loans may require weeks to complete. Thus, transactions in loan instruments may take longer than seven days to settle. This could pose a liquidity risk to the Fund and, if the Fund’s exposure to such investments is substantial, could impair the Fund’s ability to meet shareholder redemptions in a timely manner.
California Risk Factors (California Tax Exempt Bond Fund) – The Fund may be subject to greater risks than other tax exempt funds that are diversified across issuers located in a number of states. Because the Fund concentrates its investments in California municipal securities, it is vulnerable to economic, political or other developments that may lessen the ability of California municipal securities issuers to pay interest and principal on their securities. Poor statewide or local economic results, changing political sentiments, legislation, policy changes or voter-based initiatives at the state or local level, erosion of the tax base or revenues of the state or one or more local governments, seismic or other natural disasters, or other economic or credit problems affecting the state generally or a particular issuer may reduce tax revenues and increase the expenses of California municipal issuers, making it more difficult for them to meet their obligations. Actual or perceived erosion of the creditworthiness of California municipal issuers may also reduce the value of the holdings of the Fund. California municipal securities issuers rely on taxes and, to some extent, revenues from private projects financed by municipal securities to pay interest and principal on their securities. In addition, although one of the goals of the Fund is to provide income exempt from federal and California state personal income taxes, some of the Fund’s income is expected to be subject to a federal AMT.
Closed-End Funds (Fixed Income Opportunities Fund) – Unlike conventional mutual funds which continually offer new shares for sale to the investing public, CEFs are exchange-traded and issue only a limited number of shares. CEFs may trade at a discount or premium to their net asset value and may trade at a larger discount or smaller premium subsequent to purchase by the Fund. In addition, CEFs may trade infrequently, with small volume, which may make it difficult for the Fund to buy and sell shares. Also, CEFs are allowed to invest in a greater amount of illiquid securities than mutual funds, and CEFs may employ leverage to a greater extent than mutual funds. Investing in CEFs involves duplication of advisory fees and certain other expenses, and the Fund will pay brokerage commissions in connection with the purchase and sale of shares of CEFs. Further, the Fund is subject to the effects of the business and regulatory developments that affect CEFs and the investment company industry generally.
Collateralized Loan Obligations (Fixed Income Opportunities Fund) – CLO securities are subject to credit, liquidity, prepayment and interest rate risks. Adverse changes in the financial condition of an issuer or in general economic conditions or both may impair the ability of the related issuer or obligor to make payments of principal or interest. Such investments may be speculative. In addition, as a holder of CLO securities, the Fund will have limited remedies available upon the default of the CLO. CLOs may invest in concentrated portfolios of assets. The concentration of an underlying portfolio in any one obligor or industry would subject the related CLO securities to a greater degree of risk with respect to defaults by such obligor or to economic downturns relating to such industry.
CLO securities may be illiquid and dealer marks may not represent prices where assets can actually be purchased or sold in the market from time to time. Accordingly, the mark-to-market value of CLOs may be volatile. The value of the CLO securities owned by the Fund generally will fluctuate with, among other things, the financial condition of the obligors or issuers of the underlying portfolio of assets of the related CLO (“CLO Collateral”), general economic conditions, the condition of certain financial markets, political events, developments or trends in any particular industry and changes in prevailing interest rates. Holders of CLO securities must rely solely on distributions on the CLO Collateral or proceeds thereof for payment. If distributions on the CLO Collateral are insufficient to make payments on the CLO securities, no other assets will be available for payment of the deficiency and following realization of the CLO securities, the obligations of such issuer to pay such deficiency generally will be extinguished.
Issuers of CLO securities may acquire interests in loans and other debt obligations by way of sale, assignment or participation. The purchaser of an assignment typically becomes a lender under the credit agreement with respect to the loan or debt obligation;
CITY NATIONAL ROCHDALE FUNDS | PAGE 57
however, its rights can be more restricted than those of the assigning institution. In purchasing participations, an issuer of CLO securities will usually have a contractual relationship only with the selling institution, and not the borrower. The CLO generally will have neither the right to directly enforce compliance by the borrower with the terms of the loan agreement, nor any rights of set-off against the borrower, nor have the right to object to certain changes to the loan agreement agreed to by the selling institution. The CLO may not directly benefit from the collateral supporting the related loan and may be subject to any rights of set-off the borrower has against the selling institution. In addition, in the event of the insolvency of the selling institution, the CLO may be treated as a general creditor of such selling institution. Consequently, the CLO may be subject to the credit risk of the selling institution as well as of the borrower.
Conflicts of Interest (All Funds) – The Adviser and its affiliates are engaged in a variety of businesses and have interests other than those related to managing the Funds. The broad range of activities and interests of the Adviser and its affiliates gives rise to actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest that could affect the Funds and their shareholders. Certain actual and potential conflicts are described below. Other conflicts may arise from time to time.
The Adviser and the Funds have adopted practices, policies and procedures that are intended to identify, manage and, when possible, mitigate conflicts of interest. There is no assurance, however, that these practices, policies and procedures will be effective.
The Adviser and its affiliates manage other funds and accounts that have investment goals similar to those of the Funds and/or engage in transactions in the same types of securities and instruments as the Funds. Such transactions could affect the prices and availability of the securities and instruments in which a Fund invests, and could have an adverse impact on the Fund’s performance. These other funds and accounts may buy or sell positions while a Fund is undertaking the same or a differing, including potentially opposite, strategy, which could disadvantage the Fund. A position taken by the Adviser or its affiliates, on behalf of one or more other funds or accounts, may be contrary to a position taken on behalf of a Fund or may be adverse to a company or issuer in which the Fund has invested. The results of the investment activities of a Fund may differ significantly from the results achieved for other funds or accounts.
A significant percentage of a Fund’s shares may be owned or controlled by the Adviser, its affiliates and/or other accounts advised by the Adviser. Accordingly, a Fund is subject to the potential for large-scale inflows and outflows as a result of purchases and redemptions of its shares by such shareholders. These inflows and outflows could negatively affect a Fund’s net asset value, performance and ability to meet shareholder redemption requests and could cause a Fund to purchase or sell securities at a time when it would not normally do so. In addition, large-scale outflows could result in a Fund’s current expenses being allocated over a smaller asset base, which, depending on any applicable expense caps, could lead to an increase in the Fund’s expense ratio. The Adviser, in advising other accounts, is subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting shares of Funds for redemption and in deciding whether and when to redeem such shares. Further, in most cases, the Adviser has proxy voting discretion with respect to Fund shares held in other accounts it advises. The Adviser faces conflicts of interest in voting proxies on behalf of such other accounts, and has adopted policies and procedures designed to mitigate those conflicts.
The Adviser may have a financial incentive to implement or not implement certain changes to the Funds. For example, the Adviser may, from time to time, recommend a change in sub-adviser. The Adviser may benefit to the extent that it replaces a sub-adviser with a new sub-adviser with a lower sub-advisory fee.
The Adviser, its affiliates and other financial service providers have conflicts associated with their promotion of the Funds or other dealings with the Funds that would create incentives for them to promote the Funds. The Adviser and/or its affiliates make revenue sharing payments to brokers and other financial intermediaries to promote the distribution of the Funds. The Adviser and its affiliates will benefit from increased assets under management.
The Adviser and/or its affiliates have existing and may have other future business dealings or arrangements with current or proposed sub-advisers, or other fund service providers (or their affiliates) recommended by the Adviser. Such other business dealings or arrangements present conflicts of interest. For example, the Adviser may have an incentive to hire as a sub-adviser or other service provider an entity with which the Adviser or one or more of its affiliates have, or would like to have, significant or other business dealings or arrangements, and the Adviser may have a disincentive to recommend the termination of such a sub-adviser or service provider.
The range of activities, services and interests of a sub-adviser may give rise to actual, potential and/or perceived conflicts of interest that could disadvantage a Fund and its shareholders.
A further discussion of conflicts of interest appears in the SAI. These discussions are not, and are not intended to be, a complete enumeration or description of all the actual and potential conflicts that may arise.
Credit (Government Money Fund) – The Government Money Fund invests exclusively in securities that are rated, when the Fund buys them, in the highest short-term rating category, or if unrated, are of comparable quality in the Adviser’s opinion. However, it is possible that some issuers or other obligors will be unable to make the required payments on securities held by a Fund. Debt securities also go up or down in value based on the perceived creditworthiness of issuers or other obligors. If an obligor for a security held by the Fund fails to pay, otherwise defaults or is perceived to be less creditworthy, a security’s credit rating is downgraded (which could happen rapidly), or the credit quality or value of any underlying assets declines, and the value of your investment in the Fund could decline significantly,
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particularly in certain market environments. If a Fund enters into a financial contract (such as a repurchase agreement or reverse repurchase agreement) the Fund will be subject to the credit risk presented by the counterparty.
Upon the occurrence of certain triggering events or defaults on a security held by the Fund, or if the portfolio managers believe that an obligor of such a security may have difficulty meeting its obligations, the Fund may obtain a new or restructured security or underlying assets. In that case, the Fund may become the holder of securities or assets that it could not otherwise purchase or might not otherwise hold (for example, because they are of lower quality or are subordinated to other obligations of the issuer) at a time when those assets may be difficult to sell or can be sold only at a loss. In addition, the Fund may incur expenses and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against an issuer, obligor or counterparty. Any of these events may cause you to lose money.
If, after purchase, the credit rating on a security is downgraded by one or more rating agencies or the credit quality deteriorates, the Adviser or the Board of Trustees (where required by applicable regulations) will decide whether the security should be held or sold.
Credit Enhancement (California Tax Exempt Bond Fund and Muni High Income Fund) – The securities in which the Fund invests may be subject to credit enhancement (for example, guarantees, letters of credit or bond insurance). If the credit quality of the credit enhancement provider (for example, a bank or bond insurer) is downgraded, the rating on a security credit enhanced by such credit enhancement provider also may be downgraded. Having multiple securities credit enhanced by the same enhancement provider will increase the adverse effects on the Fund that are likely to result from a downgrading of, or a default by, such an enhancement provider. Adverse developments in the banking or bond insurance industries also may negatively affect the Fund.
Cybersecurity Risk (All Funds) – Cybersecurity incidents may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or cause the Funds, the Adviser, and/or other service providers (including custodians, sub-custodians, transfer agents and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality. A cybersecurity incident may disrupt the processing of shareholder transactions, impact a Fund’s ability to calculate its net asset values, and prevent shareholders from redeeming their shares. Issuers of securities in which the Fund invests are also subject to cybersecurity risks, and the value of those securities could decline if the issuers experience cybersecurity incidents.
Defensive Investments (All Funds) – The securities in which each Fund invests, and the strategies described in this Prospectus, are those that the Fund uses under normal conditions. During unusual economic or market conditions, or for temporary defensive or liquidity purposes, a Fund may invest up to 100% of its assets in cash or cash equivalents, which would not ordinarily be consistent with the Fund’s investment goals. No Fund is required or expected to take such a defensive posture. But if used, such a stance may help a Fund minimize or avoid losses during adverse market, economic or political conditions.
Emerging Market Securities (Corporate Bond Fund and Fixed Income Opportunities Fund) – Investments in emerging market countries 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 may include:
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Less social, political and economic stability; |
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Smaller securities markets with low or nonexistent trading volume and greater illiquidity and price volatility; |
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Unpredictable changes in national policies on foreign investment, including restrictions on investment in issuers or industries deemed sensitive to national interests; |
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Less transparent and established taxation policies; |
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Less developed regulatory or legal structures governing private and foreign investments, and limited rights and legal remedies available to foreign investors; |
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Less familiarity with a capital market structure or market-oriented economy; |
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Risk of market manipulation, corruption, and fraud; |
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Less publicly available information about issuers in emerging markets than is available about issuers in more developed capital markets; |
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Inadequate, limited and untimely financial reporting, as issuers may not be subject to regulatory, accounting, auditing, and financial reporting and recordkeeping standards comparable to those to which U.S. companies are subject (e.g., the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which regulates auditors of U.S. public companies, may be unable to inspect audit work and practices in certain countries); |
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Less financial sophistication, creditworthiness, and/or resources possessed by, and less government regulation of, the financial institutions and issuers with which the Fund transacts; |
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Insolvency of local banking systems due to concentrated debtor risk, imprudent lending, the effect of inefficiency and fraud in bank transfers and other systemic risks; |
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Less developed local banking infrastructure and limited reliable access to capital; |
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Risk of government seizure of assets; |
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Less government supervision and regulation of business and industry practices, stock exchanges, brokers and listed companies than in the United States; |
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Greater concentration in a few industries resulting in greater vulnerability to regional and global trade conditions; |
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Higher rates of inflation and more rapid and extreme fluctuations in inflation rates; |
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Greater sensitivity to interest rate changes; |
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Increased volatility in currency exchange rates and potential for currency devaluations and/or currency controls; |
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Greater debt burdens relative to the size of the economy; |
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More delays in settling portfolio transactions and heightened risk of loss from shareholder registration and custody practices; |
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Less assurance that recent favorable economic developments will not be slowed or reversed by unanticipated economic, political or social events in such countries; and |
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Trade embargoes, sanctions and other restrictions may, from time to time, be imposed by international bodies (for example, the United Nations) or sovereign states (for example, the United States) or their agencies on investments held or to be held by the Fund resulting in an investment or cash flows relating to an investment being frozen or otherwise suspended or restricted. |
There may be restrictions on imports from certain countries, such as Russia, and dealings with certain state-sponsored entities. For example, following Russia’s