Table of Contents

LOGO

 

Exchange-Traded Funds

 

30 November

2023

 

Fund Name    Listing Exchange    Ticker Symbol
Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF    NYSE Arca, Inc.    NUAG
Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
(formerly, Nuveen Enhanced Yield 1-5
Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
)
   NYSE Arca, Inc.    NUSA
Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF    NYSE Arca, Inc.    NUHY
Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF    NYSE Arca, Inc.    NUBD

 

 

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

 

Prospectus


Table of Contents

Table of Contents

 

Section 1    Fund Summaries    3  
Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      3  
Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      9  
Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF      15  
Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      21  
Section 2    Additional Detail About the Funds’
Strategies, Holdings and Risks
   27  
Investment Objectives and Principal Investment Strategies      27  
Portfolio Holdings      28  
Disclosure of Portfolio Holdings      32  
Risks      32  
Section 3    Fund Management    44  
Who Manages the Funds      44  
Management Fees      45  
Section 4    Investing in the Funds    46  
Purchase and Sale of Shares      46  
Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units      47  
Distributor      47  
Distribution and Service Payments      48  
Frequent Trading      48  
Section 5    General Information    50  
Dividends and Distributions      50  
Taxes      50  
Net Asset Value      53  
Premium/Discount Information      54  
Fund Service Providers      55  
Index Provider      55  
Listing Exchange      57  
Section 6    Financial Highlights    58  

 

 

NOT FDIC OR GOVERNMENT INSURED     MAY LOSE VALUE     NO BANK GUARANTEE


Table of Contents

Section 1    Fund Summaries

Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

 

Investment Objective

Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the ICE BofA Enhanced Yield U.S. Broad Bond Index (the “Index”).

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees      0.20%  
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees      0.00%  
Other Expenses      0.01%  
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses      0.21%  

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year    $ 22  
3 Years    $ 68  
5 Years    $ 118  
10 Years    $ 268  

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in 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 54% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of its Index. The Index is designed to broadly capture the U.S. investment grade fixed income market, as represented by the ICE BofA U.S. Broad Market Index (the “Base Index”). Unlike the Base Index, the Index does not weight component securities by market capitalization. Instead, the Index first assigns component securities from the Base Index into a variety of categories based upon asset class, sector, credit quality, duration and maturity. The Index then employs a rules-based methodology to allocate higher weights to categories with the potential for higher yields than the Base Index while seeking to maintain risk and credit quality at levels similar to those of the Base Index by limiting the amount of deviation between the two indices with respect to sector and category weights, tracking error, duration, and turnover. After the Index assigns a weight to each category (negative weights for a category are not permitted), individual component securities within each category are weighted based on their relative market capitalizations. The Base Index and Index are both rebalanced and reconstituted on a monthly basis. As of October 31, 2023, the Index was comprised of 11,476 securities.

 

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The Index draws from the universe defined by the Base Index, which consists of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade taxable debt securities with fixed rate coupons that have at least one year to final maturity. The Index is principally comprised of U.S. government securities (securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities), debt securities issued by U.S. corporations, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), asset-backed securities (“ABS”), and U.S. dollar-denominated debt securities issued by corporations that are publicly offered for sale in the United States.

The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally invests in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole. The Fund reconstitutes and rebalances its holdings monthly in response to the monthly Index reconstitution and rebalance. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index, or buy securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.

The Fund may use an investment strategy called “dollar rolls” (also referred to as “mortgage rolls”), in which the Fund sells securities for delivery in the current month and simultaneously contracts with a counterparty to repurchase similar (same type, coupon and maturity) but not identical securities on a specified future date.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund will (i) invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in fixed income securities and (ii) invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in U.S. dollar-denominated securities that are publicly offered for sale in the United States.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets, exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in component securities of the Index. To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.

Bond Market Liquidity Risk—Primary dealer inventories of bonds are a core indication of dealers’ capacity to “make a market” in fixed income securities. A reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the fixed income markets in which a Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. Decreased liquidity may also lead to higher volatility in the market price of the Fund’s shares and wider bid-ask spreads. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of the Fund (as described in more detail under “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” below), and although the Fund intends to redeem its shares primarily in-kind, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss and hurt performance.

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer calls higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of defaults, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.

Cash Redemption Risk—The Fund’s investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause the Fund to recognize capital gains that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption in-kind. Therefore, to the extent the Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind.

Concentration Risk—To the extent that the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries or sector, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries or sector.

Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.

 

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Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.

Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider or a financial intermediary to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.

Dollar Roll Transaction Risk—The use of dollar rolls can increase the volatility of the Fund’s share price, and it may have an adverse impact on performance unless the sub-adviser correctly predicts mortgage prepayments and interest rates. These transactions are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction may not, or may be unable to, perform in accordance with the terms of the instrument.

Frequent Trading Risk—The Fund’s portfolio turnover rate may exceed 100%. Frequent trading of portfolio securities may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities.

Income Risk—The Fund’s income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.

Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, an index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases.

Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets or in response to changing market conditions. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index.

Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market-at-market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when

 

Section 1    Fund Summaries     5


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the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund’s shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.

Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risk—Mortgage- and asset-backed securities generally can be prepaid at any time, and prepayments that occur either more quickly or more slowly than expected can adversely impact the value of such securities. They are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages or other obligations underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the duration of such securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing their prices to decline. Mortgage-backed securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk, given that the term to maturity for mortgage loans is generally substantially longer than the expected lives of those securities. A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage, loan or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

Prepayment Risk—Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as the Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates.

Service Provider Operational Risk—The Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective may also result in increased tracking error. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does not.

Valuation Risk—The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

 

6     Section 1    Fund Summaries


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Fund Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.

Annual Total Return*

 

 

LOGO

 

  *

Year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was -0.12%

During the period reflected in the bar chart above, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 4.94% and -6.49%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

             Average Annual Total Returns
for the Periods Ended
December 31, 2022
 
     Inception
Date
       1 Year        5 Year        Since
Inception
 
NUAG (return before taxes)     9/14/16          (14.09 )%         (0.40 )%         (0.02 )% 
NUAG (return after taxes on distributions)          (15.29 )%         (1.68 )%         (1.33 )% 
NUAG (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)          (8.32 )%         (0.79 )%         (0.53 )% 

ICE BofA U.S. Broad Market Index

(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)

         (13.16 )%         0.03        0.18

ICE BofA Enhanced Yield U.S. Broad Bond Index

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

               (13.63 )%         0.01        0.38

Management

Investment Adviser

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

Sub-Adviser

Teachers Advisors, LLC

Portfolio Managers

 

Name

    

Title

  

Portfolio Manager of Fund Since

Rui (Vivian) Liu, CFA      Director    November 2021
James Tsang, CFA      Senior Director    November 2021

 

Section 1    Fund Summaries     7


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Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a “discount”). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

8     Section 1    Fund Summaries


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Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

 

Investment Objective

Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (the Fund) seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Bloomberg MSCI 1-5 Year Aggregate ESG Select Index (the “Index”).

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees      0.15% 1 
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees      0.00%  
Other Expenses      0.01%  
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses      0.16%  
1 

Restated to reflect a reduction in the Fund’s contractual management fee from 0.20% to 0.15% as of June 30, 2023.

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year    $ 16  
3 Years    $ 52  
5 Years    $ 90  
10 Years    $ 205  

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in 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 78% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of its Index. The Index utilizes certain environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria to select from the securities included in a modified version of the Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Index (the Base Index), which is designed to broadly capture the 1-5 year U.S. investment grade, taxable fixed income market. The Index is maintained by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (Bloomberg) pursuant to an agreement between Bloomberg and MSCI ESG Research LLC (MSCI ESG Research and, together with Bloomberg, the Index Providers). Neither the sub-adviser nor its affiliates has any discretion to select Index components or change the Index methodology. As of October 31, 2023, the Index was comprised of 4,737 securities.

The Index draws from the universe defined by the Base Index, which consists of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade taxable debt securities with a remaining term to final maturity, or an average life, of less than five years. Qualifying securities must also have at least one year until final maturity. The Index is principally comprised of U.S. government securities (securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities),

 

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debt securities issued by U.S. corporations, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities (MBS), asset-backed securities (ABS), and U.S. dollar-denominated debt securities issued by corporations that are publicly offered for sale in the United States.

The Index identifies fixed income securities from the Base Index that satisfy certain ESG criteria, based on ESG performance data collected by MSCI ESG Research. ABS and MBS are included in the Index without reference to ESG criteria, other securities for which ESG performance data is not available are excluded from the Index. With respect to corporate debt securities, ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Companies are scored and ranked against industry peers using a consistent set of key performance indicators to determine relative ESG strength. Environmental assessment categories can include a company’s impact on climate change, natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can include governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations related to ESG matters. Index rules exclude companies with significant activities in the following controversial businesses: alcohol production, tobacco production, nuclear power, gambling, and weapons and firearms production. Companies otherwise eligible for inclusion in the Index from the following economic sectors are excluded from the Index in an attempt to reduce the carbon emissions of Index components: independent oil & gas producer, integrated oil & gas producer, and metals & mining.

With respect to government securities, U.S. governments receive an ESG rating based on the government issuer’s performance on six ESG risk factors: Natural Resources, Environmental Externalities & Vulnerability, Human Capital, Economic Environment, Financial Governance and Political Governance. Corporate debt and government securities that meet a minimum ESG rating threshold are eligible for inclusion in the Index. Eligible securities are then market value weighted within each sector, with sector weights in the Index adjusted to mirror the sector exposure of the Base Index.

The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally invests in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole. The Fund reconstitutes and rebalances its holdings monthly in response to the monthly Index reconstitution and rebalance. The Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or buy securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the Index. To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.

Bond Market Liquidity Risk—Primary dealer inventories of bonds are a core indication of dealers’ capacity to “make a market” in fixed income securities. A reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the fixed income markets in which a Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. Decreased liquidity may also lead to higher volatility in the market price of the Fund’s shares and wider bid-ask spreads. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of the Fund (as described in more detail under “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” below), and although the Fund intends to redeem its shares primarily in-kind, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss and hurt performance.

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer calls higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of defaults, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.

Cash Redemption Risk—The Fund’s investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause the Fund to recognize capital gains that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption

 

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in-kind. Therefore, to the extent the Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind.

Concentration Risk—To the extent that the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries or sector, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries or sector.

Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.

Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.

Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider or a financial intermediary to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.

ESG Strategy Risk—Because the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons based on the ESG criteria of the Index (i.e., companies that do not demonstrate sustainable ESG characteristics or are involved in certain prohibited activities), the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy or may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous to do so. This may cause the Fund to underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will not operate as expected when addressing ESG issues or they will not exhibit positive ESG characteristics as intended. There are also significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive ESG characteristics. As a result, the factors and criteria considered when generating ESG data and the results of such ESG research generally differ across ESG data providers. Further, in selecting companies for inclusion in the Index, the Index Provider relies on information and ESG performance data from an affiliated research provider, which could be incomplete or erroneous, which in turn could cause the Index Provider to assess a company’s ESG characteristics incorrectly. Furthermore, because ESG considerations are still an emerging area of investment focus, data availability and reporting with respect to ESG criteria may not always be available or may become unreliable.

Income Risk—The Fund’s income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.

Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, an index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may

 

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provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases.

Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets or in response to changing market conditions. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria.

Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market-at-market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund’s shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.

Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risk—Mortgage- and asset-backed securities generally can be prepaid at any time, and prepayments that occur either more quickly or more slowly than expected can adversely impact the value of such securities. They are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages or other obligations underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the duration of such securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing their prices to decline. Mortgage-backed securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk, given that the term to maturity for mortgage loans is generally substantially longer than the expected lives of those securities. A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage, loan or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

Prepayment Risk—Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as the Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates.

Service Provider Operational Risk—The Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective may also result in increased tracking error. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does not.

Valuation Risk—The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in

 

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such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

Fund Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.

Annual Total Return*

 

LOGO

 

  *

Year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 1.63%

During the period reflected in the bar chart above, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 3.60% and -3.68%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. The Fund has selected the Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Index to replace the ICE BofA 1-5 Year U.S. Broad Market Index as the Fund’s broad-based securities market index because the Fund’s investment adviser believes that the Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Index better reflects the securities in which the Fund primarily invests as well as the principal investment strategies employed by the Fund. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

          Average Annual Total Returns
for the Periods Ended
December 31, 2022
 
     Inception
Date
    1 Year     5 Year     Since
Inception
 
NUSA (return before taxes)     3/31/17       (6.08 )%      0.86     0.94
NUSA (return after taxes on distributions)       (6.99 )%      (0.19 )%      (0.14 )% 
NUSA (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)             (3.59 )%      0.23     0.27

Bloomberg 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Index

(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)

      (5.73 )%      0.72     0.77

ICE BofA 1-5 Year U.S. Broad Market Index

(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)

      (5.59 )%      0.77     0.81

ICE BofA Enhanced Yield 1-5 Year U.S. Broad Bond Index

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

            (5.98 )%      1.10     1.19

 

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Management

Investment Adviser

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

Sub-Adviser

Teachers Advisors, LLC

Portfolio Managers

 

Name

    

Title

  

Portfolio Manager of Fund Since

Rui (Vivian) Liu, CFA      Director    November 2021
James Tsang, CFA      Senior Director    November 2021

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a “discount”). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

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Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

 

Investment Objective

Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Bloomberg MSCI U.S. High Yield Very Liquid ESG Select Index (the “Index”).

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees      0.30%  
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees      0.00%  
Other Expenses      0.01%  
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses      0.31%  

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year      $  32  
3 Years      $100  
5 Years      $174  
10 Years      $393  

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in 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 44% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index. The Index utilizes certain environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria to select from the securities included in the Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Very Liquid Index (the “Base Index”), which is designed to broadly capture the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. The Index is maintained by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (“Bloomberg”) pursuant to an agreement between Bloomberg and MSCI ESG Research LLC (“MSCI ESG Research” and, together with Bloomberg, the “Index Providers”). Neither the Fund’s investment adviser, sub-adviser, nor their affiliates has any discretion to select Index components or change the Index methodology. As of October 31, 2023, the Index was comprised of 728 securities.

The Index draws from the universe defined by the Base Index, which is comprised of U.S. dollar-denominated, below investment grade, corporate bonds with above average liquidity issued by U.S. and non-U.S. governments and corporations. Below investment grade securities are commonly referred to as “high yield” or “junk” bonds. To be included in the Base Index, a bond must be rated high yield (Ba1/BB+/BB+ or below) using the middle rating of

 

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Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch or, if ratings are not available from all three agencies, in accordance with the Base Index methodology’s “high yield” credit quality classification rules. Bonds in default do not qualify for inclusion in the Base Index. The Base Index is comprised of fixed-rate, taxable corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of at least one year regardless of optionality, and have $500 million or more of outstanding face value. To be eligible for inclusion in the Base Index, a bond must have been issued in the past 5 years. The Base Index also limits the exposure of each issuer to 2% of the Base Index.

The Index identifies fixed income securities from the Base Index that satisfy certain ESG criteria, based on ESG performance data collected by MSCI ESG Research. With respect to corporate debt securities, ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Companies are scored and ranked against industry peers using a consistent set of key performance indicators to determine relative ESG strength. Environmental assessment categories can include how a company is addressing climate change, natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can include governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations related to ESG matters. Index rules exclude companies with significant activities in the following controversial businesses: alcohol production, tobacco production, nuclear power, gambling, and weapons and firearms production. Companies otherwise eligible for inclusion in the Index that exceed certain carbon-based ownership and emissions thresholds are excluded from the Index.

Corporate debt securities that meet a minimum ESG rating threshold are eligible for inclusion in the Index. Eligible securities are then market value weighted within each sector, with sector weights in the Index adjusted to mirror the sector exposure of the Base Index. Eligible securities are sorted into a series of groups according to credit rating and ESG score. The Index allocates weight to each group seeking to maximize the ESG-rating with consideration for market value, Base Index sector weight, Base Index credit quality, and given the level of tracking error capacity.

The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally invests in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted monthly. ESG ratings employed by the Index are generally updated annually on a rolling basis, but may be reviewed more frequently in the Index Providers’ discretion. The Fund makes corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after any Index changes are made public.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the Index. To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.

Bond Market Liquidity Risk—Primary dealer inventories of bonds are a core indication of dealers’ capacity to “make a market” in fixed income securities. A reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the fixed income markets in which a Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. Decreased liquidity may also lead to higher volatility in the market price of the Fund’s shares and wider bid-ask spreads. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of the Fund (as described in more detail under “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” below), and although the Fund intends to redeem its shares primarily in-kind, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss and hurt performance.

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer calls higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of defaults, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.

Cash Redemption Risk—The Fund’s investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause the Fund to recognize capital gains that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption in-kind. Therefore, to the extent the Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind.

 

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Concentration Risk—To the extent that the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries or sector, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries or sector.

Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments. Because the Fund may invest without limitation in high yield securities, the Fund’s credit risks are greater than those of funds that buy only investment grade securities.

Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.

Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider or a financial intermediary to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.

ESG Strategy Risk—Because the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons based on the ESG criteria of the Index (i.e., companies that do not demonstrate sustainable ESG characteristics or are involved in certain prohibited activities), the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy or may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous to do so. This may cause the Fund to underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will not operate as expected when addressing ESG issues or they will not exhibit positive ESG characteristics as intended. There are also significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive ESG characteristics. As a result, the factors and criteria considered when generating ESG data and the results of such ESG research generally differ across ESG data providers. Further, in selecting companies for inclusion in the Index, the Index Provider relies on information and ESG performance data from an affiliated research provider, which could be incomplete or erroneous, which in turn could cause the Index Provider to assess a company’s ESG characteristics incorrectly. Furthermore, because ESG considerations are still an emerging area of investment focus, data availability and reporting with respect to ESG criteria may not always be available or may become unreliable.

Foreign Investment Risk—Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to those of issuers located in or that principally operate in the United States as a result of, among other things, political, social and economic developments abroad and different legal, regulatory and tax environments. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region, it may be more susceptible to adverse conditions affecting that country or region. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards.

High Yield Securities Risk—High yield securities, which are rated below investment grade and commonly referred to as “junk” bonds, and unrated securities of comparable quality are high risk investments that may cause income and principal losses for the Fund. They generally are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal, have greater credit risk, are less liquid, are more likely to experience a default and have more volatile prices than investment grade securities.

Income Risk—The Fund’s income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.

 

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Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, an index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases.

Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets or in response to changing market conditions. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria.

Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market-at-market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund’s shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.

Prepayment Risk—Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as the Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates.

Service Provider Operational Risk—The Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing

 

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regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective may also result in increased tracking error. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does not.

Valuation Risk—The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

Fund Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.

Annual Total Return*

 

LOGO

 

  *

Year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was 4.25%

During the period reflected in the bar chart above, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 6.73% and -11.40%, respectively, for the quarters ended June 30, 2020 and March 31, 2020.

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

          Average Annual Total Returns
for the Periods Ended
December 31, 2022
 
     Inception
Date
    1 Year     Since
Inception
 
NUHY (return before taxes)     9/25/19       (12.15 )%      (1.27 )% 
NUHY (return after taxes on distributions)       (14.29 )%      (3.42 )% 
NUHY (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)       (7.16 )%      (1.79 )% 
Bloomberg U.S. High Yield Very Liquid Index
(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)
      (11.88 )%      (0.01 )% 
Bloomberg MSCI U.S. High Yield Very Liquid ESG Select Index
(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)
            (12.07 )%      (0.91 )% 

 

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Management

Investment Adviser

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

Sub-Adviser

Teachers Advisors, LLC

Portfolio Managers

 

Name

    

Title

  

Portfolio Manager of Fund Since

Rui (Vivian) Liu, CFA      Director    November 2021
James Tsang, CFA      Senior Director    November 2021

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a “discount”). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

20     Section 1    Fund Summaries


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Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

 

Investment Objective

Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (the “Fund”) seeks to track the investment results, before fees and expenses, of the Bloomberg MSCI U.S. Aggregate ESG Select Index (the “Index”).

Fees and Expenses of the Fund

The table below describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, when buying or selling shares of the Fund, which are not reflected in this table or the example that follows:

Annual Fund Operating Expenses

(expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)

 

Management Fees      0.15
Distribution and/or Service (12b-1) Fees      0.00
Other Expenses      0.01
Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses      0.16

Example

The following example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all your shares at the end of a period. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses remain the same. The example does not reflect brokerage commissions that you may pay when you purchase and sell Fund shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

 

1 Year    $ 16  
3 Years    $ 52  
5 Years    $ 90  
10 Years    $ 205  

Portfolio Turnover

The Fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or “turns over” its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in 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 14% of the average value of its portfolio.

Principal Investment Strategies

The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Index. The Index utilizes certain environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) criteria to select from the securities included in the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the “Base Index”), which is designed to broadly capture the U.S. investment grade, taxable fixed income market. The Index is maintained by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (“Bloomberg”) pursuant to an agreement between Bloomberg and MSCI ESG Research LLC (“MSCI ESG Research” and, together with Bloomberg, the “Index Providers”). Neither the sub-adviser nor its affiliates has any discretion to select Index components or change the Index methodology. As of October 31, 2023, the Index was comprised of 10,499 securities.

The Index draws from the universe defined by the Base Index, which consists of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade taxable debt securities with fixed rate coupons that meet certain minimum market value and maturity thresholds as determined by the Index Providers. The Base Index is principally comprised of U.S. government securities (securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities), debt securities issued by

 

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U.S. corporations, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), asset-backed securities (“ABS”), and U.S. dollar denominated debt securities issued by corporations that are publicly offered for sale in the United States.

The Index identifies fixed income securities from the Base Index that satisfy certain ESG criteria, based on ESG performance data collected by MSCI ESG Research. ABS and MBS are included in the Index without reference to ESG criteria; other securities for which ESG performance data is not available are excluded from the Index. With respect to corporate debt securities, ESG performance is measured on an industry-specific basis, with assessment categories varying by industry. Companies are scored and ranked against industry peers using a consistent set of key performance indicators to determine relative ESG strength. Environmental assessment categories can include a company’s impact on climate change, natural resource use, and waste management and emission management. Social evaluation categories can include a company’s relations with employees and suppliers, product safety and sourcing practices. Governance assessment categories can include governance practices and business ethics. The ESG criteria also consider how well a company adheres to national and international laws and regulations related to ESG matters. Index rules exclude companies with significant activities in the following controversial businesses: alcohol production, tobacco production, nuclear power, gambling, and weapons and firearms production. Companies otherwise eligible for inclusion in the Index that exceed certain carbon-based ownership and emissions thresholds are excluded from the Index.

With respect to government securities, U.S. governments receive an ESG rating based on the government issuer’s performance on six ESG risk factors: Natural Resources, Environmental Externalities & Vulnerability, Human Capital, Economic Environment, Financial Governance and Political Governance. Corporate debt and government securities that meet a minimum ESG rating threshold are eligible for inclusion in the Index. Eligible securities are then market value weighted within each sector, with sector weights in the Index adjusted to mirror the sector exposure of the Base Index.

The Fund generally uses a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective, meaning it generally invests in a sample of the securities in the Index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and other characteristics of the Index as a whole. The Index is rebalanced and reconstituted monthly. ESG ratings employed by the Index are generally updated annually on a rolling basis, but may be reviewed more frequently in the Index Providers’ discretion. The Fund makes corresponding changes to its portfolio shortly after any Index changes are made public.

Under normal market conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of the Index. To the extent the Index concentrates (i.e., holds 25% or more of its total assets) in the securities of companies in a particular industry or group of industries, the Fund will concentrate its investments to approximately the same extent as the Index.

Principal Risks

You could lose money by investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund is not a deposit of a bank and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The principal risks of investing in the Fund listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Fund, regardless of the order in which it appears.

Bond Market Liquidity Risk—Primary dealer inventories of bonds are a core indication of dealers’ capacity to “make a market” in fixed income securities. A reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the fixed income markets in which a Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. Decreased liquidity may also lead to higher volatility in the market price of the Fund’s shares and wider bid-ask spreads. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of the Fund (as described in more detail under “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” below), and although the Fund intends to redeem its shares primarily in-kind, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss and hurt performance.

Call Risk—If, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer calls higher-yielding debt securities held by the Fund, the Fund may have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of defaults, which may adversely impact the Fund’s performance.

Cash Redemption Risk—The Fund’s investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, the Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause the Fund to recognize capital gains that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption in-kind. Therefore, to the extent the Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind.

 

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Concentration Risk—To the extent that the Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries or sector, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries or sector.

Credit Risk—Credit risk is the risk that an issuer or other obligated party of a debt security may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments when due and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments.

Credit Spread Risk—Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of the Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.

Cybersecurity Risk—Cybersecurity risk is the risk of an unauthorized breach and access to Fund assets, customer data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, or the risk of an incident occurring that causes the Fund, its investment adviser or sub-adviser, custodian, transfer agent, distributor or other service provider or a financial intermediary to suffer a data breach, data corruption or lose operational functionality. Successful cyber-attacks or other cyber-failures or events affecting the Fund or its service providers may adversely impact the Fund or its shareholders. Additionally, a cybersecurity breach could affect the issuers in which the Fund invests, which may cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.

ESG Strategy Risk—Because the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons based on the ESG criteria of the Index (i.e., companies that do not demonstrate sustainable ESG characteristics or are involved in certain prohibited activities), the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy or may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous to do so. This may cause the Fund to underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by the Fund’s ESG investment strategy will not operate as expected when addressing ESG issues or they will not exhibit positive ESG characteristics as intended. There are also significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive ESG characteristics. As a result, the factors and criteria considered when generating ESG data and the results of such ESG research generally differ across ESG data providers. Further, in selecting companies for inclusion in the Index, the Index Provider relies on information and ESG performance data from an affiliated research provider, which could be incomplete or erroneous, which in turn could cause the Index Provider to assess a company’s ESG characteristics incorrectly. Furthermore, because ESG considerations are still an emerging area of investment focus, data availability and reporting with respect to ESG criteria may not always be available or may become unreliable.

Income Risk—The Fund’s income could decline during periods of falling interest rates or when the Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.

Index Provider Risk—There is no assurance that the Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, an index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of the Index constituents or weightings, which may increase the Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Interest Rate Risk—Interest rate risk is the risk that the value of the Fund’s fixed-rate securities will decline because of rising interest rates. Changing interest rates, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction to those initiatives. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration fixed-rate securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration fixed-rate securities. Conversely, fixed-rate securities with shorter durations or maturities will be less volatile but may provide lower returns than fixed-rate securities with longer durations or maturities. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise,

 

Section 1    Fund Summaries     23


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which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases.

Investment Style Risk—The Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, the Index regardless of their investment merit. The Fund does not attempt to outperform the Index or take defensive positions in declining markets or in response to changing market conditions. As a result, the Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to the Index. In addition, because the Index selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, the Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria.

Market Trading Risks—The Fund is an exchange-traded fund (“ETF), and as with all ETFs, Fund shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market-at-market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a Fund share typically will approximate its net asset value (“NAV”), there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy Fund shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. Although the Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (which may be especially pronounced for smaller funds). Trading of the Fund’s shares may be halted by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage). In times of market stress, the Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between the Fund’s market price and its NAV. Market makers are under no obligation to make a market in the Fund’s shares, and authorized participants are not obligated to submit purchase or redemption orders for the Fund’s shares. In the event market makers cease making a market in the Fund’s shares or authorized participants stop submitting creation or redemption orders, Fund shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to NAV.

Mortgage- and Asset-Backed Securities Risk—Mortgage- and asset-backed securities generally can be prepaid at any time, and prepayments that occur either more quickly or more slowly than expected can adversely impact the value of such securities. They are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages or other obligations underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, thereby lengthening the duration of such securities, increasing their sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing their prices to decline. Mortgage-backed securities are particularly sensitive to prepayment risk, given that the term to maturity for mortgage loans is generally substantially longer than the expected lives of those securities. A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security, the credit quality of its issuer or guarantor, and the nature and structure of its credit support. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities that are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage, loan or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

Prepayment Risk—Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as the Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates.

Service Provider Operational Risk—The Fund’s service providers, such as the Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact the Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking Error Risk—Tracking error is the divergence of the Fund’s performance from that of the Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to the Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective may also result in increased tracking error. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, but the Index does not.

Valuation Risk—The debt securities in which the Fund invests typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that the Fund will be

 

24     Section 1    Fund Summaries


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able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to the Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of the Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if the Fund were to change pricing services, or if the Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

Fund Performance

The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the potential risks of investing in the Fund. Both the bar chart and the table assume that all distributions have been reinvested. The Fund’s past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Fund will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling (800) 257-8787.

Annual Total Return*

 

LOGO

 

  *

Year-to-date total return as of September 30, 2023 was -0.98%

During the period reflected in the bar chart above, the Fund’s highest and lowest quarterly returns were 4.02% and -5.87%, respectively, for the quarters ended March 31, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

The table below shows the variability of the Fund’s average annual returns and how they compare over the time periods indicated with those of a broad measure of market performance and the Index. All after-tax returns are calculated using the historical highest individual federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state and local taxes. Your own actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific tax situation and may differ from what is shown here. After-tax returns are not relevant to investors who hold Fund shares in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs or employer-sponsored retirement plans.

 

            Average Annual Total Returns
for the Periods Ended
December 31, 2022
 
      Inception
Date
    1 Year     5 Year     Since
Inception
 
NUBD (return before taxes)      9/29/17       (13.18 )%      (0.26 )%      (0.19 )% 
NUBD (return after taxes on distributions)        (14.13 )%      (1.27 )%      (1.20 )% 
NUBD (return after taxes on distributions and sale of Fund shares)              (7.78 )%      (0.58 )%      (0.53 )% 

Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index

(reflects no deduction for taxes or sales loads)

       (13.01 )%      0.02     0.10

Bloomberg MSCI U.S. Aggregate ESG Select Index

(reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes)

             (12.82 )%      0.05     0.11

Management

Investment Adviser

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC

Sub-Adviser

Teachers Advisors, LLC

 

Section 1    Fund Summaries     25


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Portfolio Managers

 

Name

    

Title

  

Portfolio Manager of Fund Since

Rui (Vivian) Liu, CFA      Director    November 2021
James Tsang, CFA      Senior Director    November 2021

Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares

The Fund is an ETF. Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and can only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer at market prices. Because Fund shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (at a “premium”) or less than NAV (at a “discount”). An investor may also incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase Fund shares (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for Fund shares (ask) when buying and selling shares in the secondary market (the “bid/ask spread”). Recent information regarding the Fund, including its NAV, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid/ask spreads, is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

Tax Information

The Fund’s distributions are taxable and will generally be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred account, such as an individual retirement account (“IRA”) or 401(k) plan (in which case you may be taxed upon withdrawal of your investment from such account).

Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries

If you purchase shares of the Fund through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Fund’s investment adviser or its affiliates may pay the intermediary for marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems or other services related to the sale or promotion of Fund shares. These payments may create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and your salesperson to recommend the Fund over another investment. Ask your salesperson or visit your financial intermediary’s website for more information.

 

26     Section 1    Fund Summaries


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Section 2    Additional Detail About the Funds’ Strategies,   Holdings and Risks

This prospectus contains important information about investing in the Funds. Please read this prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Funds is available at www.nuveen.com/etf or by calling Nuveen Investor Services at (888) 290-9881.

Each Fund is designed to track an index that is not representative of the market as a whole. Each Fund is designed to be used as part of a broader asset allocation strategy, and thus an investment in a Fund should not be considered a complete investment program.

Each Index is a theoretical financial calculation, whereas a Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of a Fund and its Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), and differences between a Fund’s portfolio and its Index resulting from legal restrictions (such as tax diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Index. On an annual basis, each Fund’s tracking error (i.e., the divergence of a Fund’s performance from that of its Index) is generally expected to be less than 5%. Because each Fund uses a representative sampling strategy to track its Index, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it employed a replication strategy (i.e., an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all the securities in the index it seeks to track in approximately the same proportions as the index). Each Fund may sell securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal from the Index or buy securities that are not yet represented in the Index in anticipation of their addition to the Index.

 

 

                                LOGO

Each Fund’s investment objective, which is described in the “Fund Summaries” section, may be changed by the Fund’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) without shareholder approval.

Each Fund’s investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval unless otherwise noted in this prospectus or the statement of additional information.

Each Fund, except Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (“NUAG”), has adopted a policy (the “Name Policy”) whereby, under normal market conditions, it will invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in component securities of its Index. NUAG has adopted a Name Policy whereby, under normal market conditions, it will (i) invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in fixed income securities and (ii) invest at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in U.S. dollar-denominated securities that are publicly offered for sale in the United States. If the Name Policy changes, you will be notified at least 60 days in advance. Each Fund may consider both direct investments and indirect investments (e.g., investments in other investment companies, derivatives and synthetic

 

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instruments with economic characteristics similar to the direct investments that meet the Name Policy) when determining compliance with the Name Policy. For purposes of the Name Policy, the Funds will value eligible derivatives at fair value or market value and not notional value.

Each Fund’s principal investment strategies are discussed in the “Fund Summaries” section. These are the strategies that each Fund’s investment adviser and sub-adviser believe are most likely to be important in trying to achieve the Fund’s investment objective. This section provides more information about these strategies, as well as information about some additional strategies that the Funds’ sub-adviser uses, or may use, to achieve each Fund’s objective. You should be aware that each Fund may also use strategies and invest in securities that are not described in this prospectus, but that are described in the statement of additional information. For a copy of the statement of additional information, call Nuveen Investor Services at (888) 290-9881 or visit the Funds’ website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

The Index—Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NUSA), Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (“NUHY”) and Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (“NUBD”)

Each Fund seeks to track the investment results of its Index, which is comprised of securities that meet certain ESG criteria. Companies with significant involvement in certain controversial business activities, including alcohol production, tobacco production, nuclear power, gambling, and weapons and firearms production, are ineligible to be included in the Index. For purposes of this policy, as of the date of this prospectus, all companies that earn either 10% or more of their revenue or more than $1 billion in revenue ($3 billion in revenue for all conventional weapons manufacturers) from the production of alcohol-, tobacco- and/or gambling-related products, gambling operations, and/or manufacturing conventional weapons, conventional weapon components or weapons systems are excluded from the Index. In addition, all civilian firearm companies classified as “producers” that earn more than 0% of revenue from civilian firearms are excluded from the Index. These percentage and dollar amount thresholds are subject to change in accordance with updates to the rules-based Index methodology. All companies with any tie to controversial weapons, such as cluster munitions, landmines, depleted uranium weapons, nuclear weapons, and biological/chemical weapons, blinding lasers, non-detectable fragments and incendiary weapons are also excluded. All companies involved in nuclear power generation, including nuclear fuel enrichment, uranium mining, and/or nuclear reactor design or construction, are also excluded from the Index. In addition, companies that surpass certain thresholds of installed capacity attributed to nuclear sources are also excluded. Securities with any ownership of fossil fuel reserves are ineligible for inclusion in the Index. Further, in an attempt to reduce the carbon emissions of index components, securities classified as independent or integrated oil & gas products or classified as metals and mining issuers are ineligible for inclusion in the Index.

 

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Under normal market conditions, each Fund invests at least 80% of its assets, exclusive of collateral held from securities lending, in component securities of its Index. Each Fund may also, as a non-principal strategy, invest up to

 

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20% of its assets in securities and other instruments that the Fund’s sub-adviser believes will help it track its Index, such as shares of other investment companies (including other ETFs), derivative instruments (including forward contracts, futures contracts, options on futures contracts, options and swaps), non-US investments, and cash and cash equivalents. Additional information about each Fund’s portfolio holdings can be found below.

U.S. Government Securities

U.S. government securities include U.S. Treasury obligations and securities issued or guaranteed by various agencies of the U.S. government, or by various instrumentalities which have been established or sponsored by the U.S. government. U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government. Securities issued or guaranteed by federal agencies and U.S. government sponsored instrumentalities may or may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

Corporate Debt Securities

A Fund may invest in corporate debt securities issued by companies of all kinds, including those with small-, mid- and large-capitalizations. Corporate debt securities are fixed income securities issued by businesses to finance their operations. Notes, bonds, debentures and commercial paper are the most common types of corporate debt securities, with the primary difference being their maturities and secured or unsecured status. Commercial paper has the shortest term and is usually unsecured. Corporate debt securities may be rated investment-grade or below investment-grade and may carry fixed or floating rates of interest.

Mortgage-Backed Securities

A mortgage-backed security is a type of pass-through security backed by an ownership interest in a pool of mortgage loans. Mortgage-backed securities may be guaranteed by, or secured by collateral that is guaranteed by, the U.S. government, its agencies, instrumentalities or sponsored corporations. Mortgage-backed securities may also be privately issued; these include commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Asset-Backed Securities

Asset-backed securities are securities issued by trusts and special purpose entities that are backed by pools of assets, such as automobile loans and credit-card receivables, and which pass through the payments on the underlying obligations to the security holders (less servicing fees paid to the originator or fees for any credit enhancement). Typically, the originator of the loan or accounts receivable transfers it to a specially created trust, which repackages it as securities with a minimum denomination and a specific term. The securities are then privately placed or publicly offered.

Dollar Rolls (NUAG only)

The Fund may enter into mortgage “dollar rolls” in which the Fund sells mortgage-backed securities and simultaneously contracts with the same counterparty to repurchase similar (same type, coupon and maturity) but not identical securities on a specified future date. During the period between the sale and repurchase (the “roll period”), the Fund forgoes principal and interest paid on the mortgage-backed securities. However, the Fund would benefit to the extent of any difference between the price received for the securities sold and the lower forward price for the future purchase (often referred to as the “drop”) plus any fee income received. Unless such benefits

 

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exceed the income, capital appreciation and gain or loss due to mortgage prepayments that would have been realized on the securities sold as part of the mortgage dollar roll, the investment performance of the Fund will be less than what the performance would have been without the use of the mortgage dollar roll.

Non-U.S. Investments

As a principal strategy for NUHY and a non-principal strategy for all other Funds, each Fund may invest in U.S. dollar-denominated debt securities issued by non-U.S. governments and corporations. A Fund will classify an issuer of a security as being a U.S. or non-U.S. issuer based on the determination of an unaffiliated, recognized financial data provider. Such determinations are based on a number of criteria, such as the issuer’s country of domicile, the primary exchange on which the issuer’s security trades, the location from which the majority of the issuer’s revenue comes, and the issuer’s reporting currency. A Fund may invest in debt securities issued by governments of emerging market countries and corporations located therein. Emerging market countries include any country other than Canada, the United States and the countries comprising the MSCI EAFE® Index (currently, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom).

Derivatives

As a non-principal investment strategy, each Fund may invest in derivatives. Generally, a derivative is a financial contract the value of which depends upon, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate or index. Derivatives generally take the form of contracts under which the parties agree to payments between them based upon the performance of a wide variety of underlying references, such as stocks, bonds, loans, commodities, interest rates, currency exchange rates, and various domestic and foreign indices. Examples of derivative instruments include forward currency contracts, currency and interest rate swaps, currency options, futures contracts, options on futures contracts and swap agreements.

Derivatives may entail investment exposures that are greater than their cost would suggest. As a result, a small investment in derivatives could have a large impact on a Fund’s performance.

Investment Companies and Other Pooled Investment Vehicles

As a non-principal investment strategy, each Fund may invest in securities of other open-end or closed-end investment companies, including ETFs. In addition, each Fund may invest a portion of its assets in pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies) that invest primary in securities of the types in which the Fund may invest directly. As a shareholder in an investment company or other pooled investment vehicle, each Fund will bear its ratable share of that vehicle’s expenses, and would remain subject to payment of the Fund’s management fees with respect to assets so invested. Shareholders would therefore be subject to duplicative expenses to the extent a Fund invests in an investment company or other pooled investment vehicle. In addition, each Fund will incur brokerage costs when purchasing and selling shares of ETFs. Securities of investment companies or other pooled investment vehicles may be leveraged, in which case the value and/or yield of such securities will tend to be more volatile than securities of unleveraged vehicles.

 

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Generally, investments in other investment companies (including ETFs) are subject to statutory limitations prescribed by the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“1940 Act”). These limitations include a prohibition on a Fund acquiring more than 3% of the voting shares of any other investment company, and a prohibition on investing more than 5% of the Fund’s total assets in the securities of any one investment company or more than 10% of its total assets, in the aggregate, in investment company securities. Subject to certain conditions, a Fund also may invest in money market funds beyond the statutory limits described above.

Zero Coupon Bonds

As a non-principal investment strategy, each Fund may invest in zero coupon bonds. Zero coupon bonds pay no cash income to their holders until they mature. When held to maturity, their entire return comes from the difference between their purchase price and their maturity value. Zero coupon bonds are issued at substantial discounts from their value at maturity.

Securities Lending

Each Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of its total assets to broker-dealers, banks, and other institutions to generate additional income. When a Fund loans its portfolio securities, it will receive, at the inception of each loan, cash collateral equal to at least 102% of the value of the loaned securities. Under the Fund’s securities lending agreement, the securities lending agent will generally bear the risk that a borrower may default on its obligation to return loaned securities. The Fund, however, will be responsible for the risks associated with the investment of cash collateral. The Fund may lose money on its investment of cash collateral or may fail to earn sufficient income on its investment to meet its obligations to the borrower.

When a dividend is paid on a security that is out on loan, the borrower receives the dividend and in turn makes a payment of the same amount to the Fund. Dividends, if they constitute “qualified dividends,” are taxable at the same rate as long-term capital gains. These payments made by borrowers, however, are not qualified dividends, and are taxable at higher ordinary income rates. As a result, some of the distributions received by shareholders who hold Fund shares in taxable accounts may be subject to taxation at a higher rate than if that Fund had not loaned its portfolio securities.

Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments

As a non-principal investment strategy, each Fund may invest in cash and in U.S. dollar-denominated high-quality money market instruments and other short-term securities, including money market funds, in such proportions as warranted by prevailing market conditions and the Funds’ principal investment strategies. The Funds may temporarily invest without limit in such holdings for liquidity purposes. Being invested in these securities may keep a Fund from participating in a market upswing and prevent a Fund from achieving its investment objective.

Temporary Defensive Positions

In certain situations or market conditions, such as in the case of liquidity concerns and/or unusually large cash inflows or redemptions, a Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment policies and strategies, provided that the alternative is consistent with the Fund’s investment objective and is in the best interest of the Fund’s shareholders.

 

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A description of each Fund’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund’s portfolio holdings is available in the Funds’ statement of additional information. In addition, the identities and quantities of the securities held by each Fund are disclosed on the Funds’ website.

 

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Risk is inherent in all investing. Investing in the Funds involves risk, including the risk that you may receive little or no return on your investment or even that you may lose part or all of your investment. Therefore, before investing you should consider carefully the principal risks and certain other risks that you assume when you invest in the Funds. Descriptions of these risks listed below are presented alphabetically to facilitate your ability to find particular risks and compare them with the risks of other funds. Each risk summarized below is considered a “principal risk” of investing in the Funds, regardless of the order in which it appears. Because of these risks, you should consider an investment in a Fund to be a long-term investment.

Principal Risks

Bond market liquidity risk: Primary dealer inventories of bonds appear to be low relative to the size of the fixed income market. These inventories are a core indication of dealers’ capacity to “make a market” in fixed income securities. This reduction in market making capacity has the potential to decrease liquidity and increase price volatility in the fixed income markets in which a Fund invests, particularly during periods of economic or market stress. Decreased liquidity may also lead to higher volatility in the market price of a Fund’s shares and wider bid-ask spreads. Although only certain institutional investors are entitled to redeem shares of a Fund (as described in more detail under “Investing in the Funds—Purchase and Redemption of Creation Units” below), and although a Fund intends to redeem its shares primarily in-kind, if a Fund is forced to sell underlying investments to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, this decreased liquidity may have to accept a lower price to sell a security, sell other securities to raise cash, or give up an investment opportunity, any of which could have a negative effect on performance. If a Fund needed to sell large blocks of bonds to raise cash, those sales could further reduce the bonds’ prices.

Call risk: Debt securities are subject to call risk. Many bonds may be redeemed at the option of the issuer, or “called,” before their stated maturity date. In general, an issuer will call its bonds if they can be refinanced by issuing new bonds which bear a lower interest rate. A Fund is subject to the possibility that during periods of falling interest rates, a bond issuer will call its high yielding bonds. A Fund would then be forced to invest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates or in securities with a higher risk of default, which may adversely impact a Fund’s performance. Such redemptions and subsequent reinvestments would also increase a Fund’s portfolio turnover. If the called bond was purchased or is currently valued at a premium, the value of the premium may be lost in the event of prepayment.

 

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Cash redemption risk: A Fund’s investment strategy may require it to effect redemptions, in whole or in part, in cash. In order to obtain the cash needed for a redemption, a Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities, which may cause a Fund to recognize capital gains that it might not have recognized if it had satisfied the redemption in-kind (i.e., distribute securities as payment of redemption proceeds). Therefore, to the extent a Fund effects redemptions in cash, it may pay out higher annual capital gain distributions than if it satisfied redemptions entirely in-kind.

Concentration risk: To the extent that a Fund’s portfolio is concentrated in the securities of issuers in a particular market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class, the Fund may be adversely affected by the performance of those securities, may be subject to increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting that market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Concentrated exposure to an industry or group of industries may cause a Fund to experience increased market price volatility compared to funds that invest more broadly in the overall market.

Credit risk: Credit risk is the risk that an issuer of a debt security held by a Fund may be, or perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) to be, unable or unwilling to make dividend, interest and principal payments and the related risk that the value of a debt security may decline because of concerns about the issuer’s ability or willingness to make such payments. Debt securities are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which are often reflected in credit ratings. The credit rating of a debt security may be lowered or, in some cases, withdrawn if the issuer suffers adverse changes in its financial condition, which can lead to greater volatility in the price of the security and in shares of a Fund, and can also affect the security’s liquidity and make it more difficult for a Fund to sell if necessary. When a Fund purchases unrated securities, it will depend on the sub-adviser’s analysis of credit risk without the assessment of an independent rating organization, such as Moody’s or Standard & Poor’s. Issuers of unrated securities, issuers with significant debt services requirements in the near to mid-term and issuers with less capital and liquidity to absorb additional expenses may have greater credit risk. Additionally, credit risk is heightened in market environments where interest rates are rising, particularly when rates are rising significantly, to the extent that an issuer is less willing or able to make payments when due.

To the extent that a Fund holds debt securities that are secured or guaranteed by financial institutions, changes in the credit quality of such financial institutions could cause the values of these debt securities to decline. Security insurance does not guarantee the value of either individual securities or the shares of a Fund. Additionally, a Fund could be delayed or hindered in the enforcement of its rights against an issuer or guarantor.

Credit spread risk: Credit spread risk is the risk that credit spreads (i.e., the difference in yield between securities that is due to differences in their credit quality) may increase when the market believes that bonds generally have a greater risk of default. Increasing credit spreads may reduce the market values of a Fund’s debt securities. Credit spreads often increase more for lower rated and unrated securities than for investment grade securities. In addition, when credit spreads increase, reductions in market value will generally be greater for longer-maturity securities.

 

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Cybersecurity risk: Intentional cybersecurity breaches include: unauthorized access to systems, networks or devices (such as through “hacking” activity); infection from computer viruses or other malicious software code; and attacks that shut down, disable, slow, or otherwise disrupt operations, business processes, or website access or functionality. In addition, unintentional incidents can occur, such as the inadvertent release of confidential information (possibly resulting in the violation of applicable privacy laws).

A cybersecurity breach could result in the loss or theft of customer data or funds, the inability to access electronic systems (“denial of services”), loss or theft of proprietary information or corporate data, physical damage to a computer or network system, or costs associated with system repairs. Such incidents could cause a Fund, a Fund’s investment adviser or sub-adviser, a financial intermediary, or other service providers to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs or financial loss. Negative impacts on a Fund could include the inability to calculate NAV, transact business, process transactions on behalf of shareholders or safeguard data. In addition, such incidents could affect issuers in which a Fund invests, and thereby cause a Fund’s investments to lose value.

Dollar roll transaction risk (NUAG only): In a dollar roll transaction, the Fund sells mortgage-backed securities for delivery in the current month while contracting with the same party to repurchase similar securities at a future date. Because the Fund gives up the right to receive principal and interest paid on the securities sold, a mortgage dollar roll transaction will diminish the investment performance of the Fund unless the difference between the price received for the securities sold and the price to be paid for the securities to be purchased in the future, plus any fee income received, exceeds any income, principal payments, and appreciation on the securities sold as part of the mortgage dollar roll. Whether mortgage dollar rolls will benefit the Fund may depend upon the sub-adviser’s ability to predict mortgage prepayments and interest rates. In addition, the use of mortgage dollar rolls by the Fund increases the amount of the Fund’s assets that are subject to market risk, which could increase the volatility of the price of the Fund’s shares. These transactions are also subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction may not, or may be unable to, perform in accordance with the terms of the instrument.

ESG strategy risk (NUSA, NUHY and NUBD only): Because a Fund’s ESG investment strategy will exclude securities of certain issuers for non-financial reasons based on the ESG criteria of an Index (i.e., companies that do not demonstrate relative strength in ESG characteristics or are involved in certain prohibited activities), a Fund may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy or may be required to sell a security when it might otherwise be disadvantageous to do so. This may cause a Fund to underperform the stock market as a whole or other funds that do not use an ESG investment strategy. In addition, there is a risk that the companies identified by a Fund’s ESG investment strategy do not operate as expected when addressing ESG issues. A company’s ESG performance or practices or the Index’s or the sub-adviser’s assessment of those actions could vary over time, which could cause an Index to allocate to, and a Fund to be temporarily invested in companies that do not comply with an Index’s ESG criteria or a Fund’s approach towards considering ESG characteristics. There are significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive ESG characteristics. As a result, the

 

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factors and criteria considered when generating ESG data and the results of such ESG research generally differ across ESG data providers. The evaluation of ESG factors is often subjective and the third-party ESG data provider used by the Index may not identify or evaluate every relevant ESG factor with respect to every Index constituent. While the sub-adviser believes the ESG criteria used by each Fund’s Index are reasonable, the portfolio decisions made by the Fund based on an Index’s ESG criteria may differ from the decisions of other investors or advisers based on their views and evaluations of ESG characteristics. As a result, a Fund may invest in securities that do not reflect the beliefs of any particular investor. In making investment decisions, the Index, and, in turn, the sub-adviser, relies on information and data that could be incomplete or erroneous, which could cause the Index and sub-adviser to incorrectly assess a company’s ESG characteristics. The third-party data provider may differ in the data it provides for a given security or between industries, or may only take into account one of many ESG-related components of a company. Furthermore, because ESG considerations are still an emerging area of investment focus, data availability and reporting with respect to ESG criteria may not always be available or may become unreliable. The successful implementation of the ESG component of each Fund’s Index methodology is therefore dependent in large part on the ESG factors considered and research methodologies employed by the Index’s third-party ESG data provider, as well as the timely availability of accurate information.

Regulatory changes or interpretations regarding the definitions and/or use of ESG characteristics could have a material adverse effect on a Fund’s ability to invest in accordance with its investment policies and/or achieve its investment objective, as well as the ability of certain classes of investors to invest in funds, such as the Funds, whose strategies include ESG factors.

Foreign investment risk: Non-U.S. issuers or U.S. issuers with significant non-U.S. operations may be subject to risks in addition to or different than those of issuers that are located in or principally operated in the United States due to political, social and economic developments abroad, different regulatory environments and laws, potential seizure by the government of company assets, higher taxation, withholding taxes on dividends and interest and limitations on the use or transfer of portfolio assets. If any of these events were to occur, the affected security may experience drastic declines. In the event of a seizure of assets by a non-U.S. government, a Fund could lose its entire investment in that particular country.

To the extent a Fund invests in depositary receipts, the Fund will be subject to many of the same risks as when investing directly in non-U.S. securities. The holder of an unsponsored depositary receipt may have limited voting rights and may not receive as much information about the issuer of the underlying securities as would the holder of a sponsored depositary receipt.

Other non-U.S. investment risks include the following:

 

   

Enforcing legal rights may be difficult, costly and slow in non-U.S. countries, and there may be special problems enforcing claims against non-U.S. governments.

 

   

Non-U.S. companies may not be subject to accounting, auditing, financial reporting or recordkeeping standards or governmental supervision comparable to U.S. companies, and there may be less public information about their operations.

 

   

Non-U.S. markets may be less liquid and more volatile and may be more difficult to value than U.S. markets.

 

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The U.S. and non-U.S. markets often rise and fall at different times or by different amounts due to economic or other developments, including armed conflict or political, social or diplomatic events, particular to a given country or region. This phenomenon would tend to lower the overall price volatility of a portfolio that included both U.S. and non-U.S. securities. Sometimes, however, global trends will cause the U.S. and non-U.S. markets to move in the same direction, reducing or eliminating the risk reduction benefit of international investing.

 

   

Non-U.S. securities traded on foreign exchanges, particularly in emerging markets countries, may be subject to further risks due to the inexperience of local investment professionals and financial institutions, the possibility of permanent or temporary termination of trading, and greater spreads between bid and asked prices for securities. In addition, non-U.S. exchanges and investment professionals are subject to less governmental regulation, and commissions may be higher than in the United States. Also, there may be delays in the settlement of non-U.S. exchange transactions.

 

   

A Fund’s income from non-U.S. issuers may be subject to non-U.S. withholding taxes. In some countries, a Fund also may be subject to taxes on trading profits and, on certain securities transactions, transfer or stamp duties tax. To the extent non-U.S. income taxes are paid by a Fund, U.S. shareholders may be entitled to a credit or deduction for U.S. tax purposes.

Some countries restrict to varying degrees foreign investment in their securities markets. In some circumstances, these restrictions may limit or preclude investment in certain countries or may increase the cost of investing in securities of particular companies. Non-U.S. countries may be subject to economic sanctions or other measures by the United States or other governments. The type and severity of sanctions and other similar measures, including counter sanctions and other retaliatory actions, that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict. The imposition of sanctions could, among other things, cause a decline in the value and/or liquidity of securities issued by the sanctioned country or companies located in or economically tied to the sanctioned country and increase market volatility and disruption in the sanctioned country and throughout the world.

Sanctions and other similar measures could limit or prevent a Fund from buying and selling securities (in the sanctioned country and other markets), significantly delay or prevent the settlement of securities transactions, and significantly impact a Fund’s liquidity and performance.

To the extent a Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in the securities of companies in a single country or region (or depositary receipts representing such securities), it is more likely to be impacted by events or conditions affecting that country or region. Investment in a Fund may be more exposed to a single country or a region’s economic cycles, stock market valuations and currency, which could increase its risk compared with a more geographically diversified fund. In addition, political, social, regulatory, economic or environmental events that occur in a single country or region may adversely affect the values of that country or region’s securities and thus the holdings of the Fund.

Frequent trading risk (NUAG only): The Fund’s portfolio turnover rate may exceed 100%. Frequent trading of portfolio securities may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer

 

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mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities.

High yield securities risk (NUHY only): Securities that are rated below-investment grade are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk” bonds (and similar unrated securities). High yield securities usually offer higher yields than investment grade securities, but also involve more risk. Analysis of the creditworthiness of issuers of high yield securities may be more complex than for issuers of higher rated debt securities. High yield securities are considered to be speculative with respect to the ability to pay interest and repay principal. High yield securities may be more susceptible to real or perceived adverse economic conditions than investment grade securities, and they generally have more volatile prices, carry more risk to principal and are more likely to experience a default. In addition, high yield securities generally are less liquid than investment grade securities. Any investment in distressed or defaulted securities subjects a fund to even greater credit risk than investments in other below-investment grade securities.

Income risk: A Fund’s income from its debt securities could decline during periods of falling interest rates because a Fund generally will have to invest the proceeds from sales of Creation Units, as well as the proceeds from maturing portfolio debt securities (or portfolio securities that have been called, see “Call risk” above, or prepaid, see “Mortgage- and asset-backed securities risk” below), in lower-yielding securities. In addition, a Fund’s income could decline when a Fund experiences defaults on debt securities it holds.

Index provider risk: There is no assurance that an Index will be determined, maintained, constructed, reconstituted, rebalanced, composed, calculated or disseminated accurately. To correct any such error, an index provider may carry out an unscheduled rebalance or other modification of an Index constituents or weightings, which may increase a Fund’s costs. Unusual market conditions may cause an index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. Such a postponement in a time of market volatility could mean a constituent that would otherwise be removed at rebalance may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Index providers generally do not provide any representation or warranty in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of data in the indexes in which they license, and generally do not guarantee that an index will be calculated in accordance with its stated methodology. Losses or costs associated with any index provider errors generally will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Interest rate risk: Fixed-rate securities held by a Fund will fluctuate in value with changes in interest rates. In general, fixed-rate securities will increase in value when interest rates fall and decrease in value when interest rates rise. Short-term and long-term interest rates do not necessarily move in the same amount or in the same direction. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from a Fund’s performance to the extent that it is exposed to such interest rates. Under certain circumstances, very low or negative interest rates may cause a Fund to have very low or negative yields on some of its securities. Fixed-rate securities may be subject to a greater risk of rising interest rates than would normally be the case due to the effect of potential government fiscal policy initiatives and resulting market reaction

 

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to those initiatives. When interest rates change, the values of longer-duration debt securities usually change more than the values of shorter-duration debt securities. Duration is a measure of a security’s price sensitivity to an interest rate change. Accordingly, a Fund that invests in securities with longer durations generally is subject to greater interest rate risk. For example, if interest rates increase or decrease by one percent, a bond’s price will drop or rise, respectively, by approximately one percent for every year of the bond’s duration. Rising interest rates also may lengthen the duration of debt securities with call features, since exercise of the call becomes less likely as interest rates rise, which in turn will make the securities more sensitive to changes in interest rates and result in even steeper price declines in the event of further interest rate increases.

Investment style risk: Each Fund invests in the securities included in, or representative of, its Index regardless of their investment merit. Each Fund does not attempt to outperform its Index or take defensive positions in declining markets or in response to changing market conditions. As a result, a Fund’s performance may be adversely affected by a general decline in the market segments relating to its Index. In addition, because the Index for NUSA, NUHY and NUBD selects securities for inclusion based on ESG criteria, NUSA, NUHY and NUBD may forgo some market opportunities available to funds that do not use these criteria.

Market trading risks: As with all ETFs, a Fund’s shares may be bought and sold in the secondary market at market prices. Although it is expected that the market price of a fund’s share typically will approximate its NAV, there may be times when the market price and the NAV diverge more significantly, particularly in times of market volatility or steep market declines. Thus, you may pay more or less than NAV when you buy a Fund’s shares on the secondary market, and you may receive more or less than NAV when you sell those shares. In times of market stress, a Fund’s underlying portfolio holdings may become less liquid, which in turn may affect the liquidity of the Fund’s shares and/or lead to more significant differences between a Fund’s market price and its NAV.

Only certain institutional investors are eligible to purchase and redeem shares directly from a Fund at NAV. In addition, efficient trading in a Fund’s shares on the secondary market depends on the participation of firms acting as market makers and/or liquidity providers in the market place. To the extent these market maker and authorized participant firms exit the ETF business or otherwise significantly reduce their business activities and no other entities step forward to perform these functions, a Fund’s shares may trade at a material discount to NAV.

During periods of high market volatility, a fund’s share may trade at a significant discount to its NAV, and in these circumstances certain types of brokerage orders may expose an investor to an increased risk of loss. A “stop order,” sometimes called a “stop-loss order,” may cause a fund’s share to be sold at the next prevailing market price once the “stop” level is reached, which during a period of high volatility can be at a price that is substantially below NAV. By including a “limit” criteria with your brokerage order, you may be able to limit the size of the loss resulting from the execution of an ill-timed stop order.

Although each Fund’s shares are listed for trading on a national securities exchange, it is possible that an active trading market may not develop or be maintained, in which case transactions may occur at wider bid/ask spreads (discussed in further detail below). Trading of a Fund’s shares may be halted

 

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by the activation of individual or market-wide trading halts (which halt trading for a specific period of time when the price of a particular security or overall market prices decline by a specified percentage).

Buying or selling a Fund’s shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of a Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread;” that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for a Fund’s shares (the “bid” price) and the price at which they are willing to sell a Fund’s shares (the “ask” price). The spread, which varies over time based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if a Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if a Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). A Fund’s spread may also be impacted by market volatility generally and the liquidity of the underlying securities held by a Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling a Fund’s shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results, and an investment in a Fund’s shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

Mortgage- and asset-backed securities risk (all Funds except for NUHY): The value of mortgage- and asset-backed securities can fall if the owners of the underlying mortgages or other obligations pay off their mortgages or other obligations sooner than expected, which could happen when interest rates fall or for other reasons. Mortgage- and asset-backed securities are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that rising interest rates could cause mortgages or other obligations underlying the securities to be prepaid more slowly than expected, which would, in effect, convert a short- or medium-duration mortgage- or asset-backed security into a longer-duration security, increasing its sensitivity to interest rate changes and causing its price to decline.

A mortgage-backed security may be negatively affected by the quality of the mortgages underlying such security and the structure of its issuer. For example, if a mortgage underlying a certain mortgage-backed security defaults, the value of that security may decrease.

A Fund may invest in mortgage-backed securities that are not explicitly backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support in situations in which it was not obligated to do so. Mortgage-backed securities issued by a private issuer, such as commercial mortgage-backed securities, generally entail greater risk than obligations directly or indirectly guaranteed by the U.S. government or a government-sponsored entity. There may be a limited market for such securities, especially when there is a perceived weakness in the mortgage and real estate market sectors. Without an active trading market, non-agency mortgage-backed securities held by a Fund may be particularly difficult to value because of the complexities involved in assessing the value of the underlying loans.

Prepayment risk: Prepayment risk is the risk that the issuer of a debt security will repay principal (in part or in whole) prior to the scheduled maturity date. Debt securities allowing prepayment may offer less potential for gains during a period of declining interest rates, as a Fund may be required to reinvest the proceeds of any prepayment at lower interest rates, reducing its income. If a Fund purchased the debt securities at a premium, prepayments on the

 

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securities could cause a Fund to lose a portion of its principal investment. These factors may cause the value of an investment in a Fund to change. The impact on prepayments on the price of a debt seriously may be difficult to predict and may increase the security’s volatility.

Service provider operational risk: A Fund’s service providers, such as a Fund’s administrator, custodian or transfer agent, may experience disruptions or operating errors that could negatively impact a Fund. Although service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, and to take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors, it may not be possible to identify all of the operational risks that may affect a Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

Tracking error risk: Tracking error is the divergence of a Fund’s performance from that of its Index. Tracking error may occur because of, for example, pricing differences, transaction costs, a Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual of distributions, changes to its Index or the need to meet various new or existing regulatory requirements. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. The Fund’s use of a representative sampling strategy to achieve its investment objective may also result in increased tracking error. Tracking error also may result because a Fund incurs fees and expenses, but its Index does not.

Valuation risk: The debt securities in which a Fund may invest typically are valued by a pricing service utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including price quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows and transactions for comparable instruments. There is no assurance that a Fund will be able to buy or sell a portfolio security at the price established by the pricing service, which could result in a gain or loss to a Fund. Pricing services generally price debt securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional “round lot” size, but some trades may occur in smaller, “odd lot” sizes, often at lower prices than institutional round lot trades. Over certain time periods, such differences could materially impact the performance of a Fund, which may not be sustainable. Alternative pricing services may incorporate different assumptions and inputs into their valuation methodologies, potentially resulting in different values for the same securities. As a result, if a Fund were to change pricing services, or if a Fund’s pricing service were to change its valuation methodology, there could be a material impact, either positive or negative, on the Fund’s net asset value.

Non-Principal Risks

Derivatives risk: The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in traditional securities, including leverage risk, market risk, counterparty risk, liquidity risk, operational risk and legal risk. Operational risk generally refers to risk related to potential operational issues, including documentation issues, settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error, and legal risk generally refers to insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of counterparty, or legality or enforceability of a contract.

Derivatives can be highly volatile, illiquid and difficult to value, and there is the risk that changes in the value of a derivative held by a Fund will not correlate with the asset, index or rate underlying the derivative contract.

 

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Changes in the value of a derivative may also create margin delivery or settlement obligations for a Fund.

The use of derivatives can lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying asset, index or rate, which may be magnified by certain features of the contract. A derivative transaction also involves the risk that a loss may be sustained as a result of the failure of the counterparty to the contract to make required payments. These risks are heightened when the management team uses derivatives to enhance a Fund’s return or as a substitute for a position or security, rather than solely to hedge (or offset) the risk of a position or security held by a Fund.

A Fund may use derivatives to hedge risk. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences.

In addition, when a Fund engages in certain derivative transactions, it is effectively leveraging its investments, which could result in exaggerated changes in the NAV of the Fund’s shares and can result in losses that exceed the amount originally invested. The success of a Fund’s derivatives strategies will depend on the sub-adviser’s ability to assess and predict the impact of market or economic developments on the underlying asset, index or rate and the derivative itself, without the benefit of observing the performance of the derivative under all possible market conditions.

Each Fund may also enter into over-the-counter (“OTC”) transactions in derivatives. Transactions in the OTC markets generally are conducted on a principal-to-principal basis. The terms and conditions of these instruments generally are not standardized and tend to be more specialized or complex, and the instruments may be harder to value. In general, there is less governmental regulation and supervision of transactions in the OTC markets than of transactions entered into on organized exchanges. In addition, certain derivative instruments and markets may not be liquid, which means a Fund may not be able to close out a derivatives transaction in a cost-efficient manner.

Short positions in derivatives may involve greater risks than long positions, as the risk of loss on short positions is theoretically unlimited (unlike a long position, in which the risk of loss may be limited to the notional amount of the instrument).

Swap agreements may involve fees, commissions or other costs that may reduce a Fund’s gains from a swap agreement or may cause a Fund to lose money.

Futures contracts are subject to the risk that an exchange may impose price fluctuation limits, which may make it difficult or impossible for a Fund to close out a position when desired.

Options contracts may expire unexercised, which may cause a Fund to realize a capital loss equal to the premium paid on a purchased option or a capital gain equal to the premium received on a written option.

Global economic risk: National and regional economies and financial markets are becoming increasingly interconnected, which increases the possibilities that conditions in one country, region or market might adversely impact issuers in a different country, region or market. Changes in legal, political, regulatory, tax and economic conditions may cause fluctuations in markets and securities prices around the world, which could negatively impact the

 

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value of a Fund’s investments. Major economic or political disruptions, particularly in large economies like China’s, may have global negative economic and market repercussions. Additionally, events such as war, terrorism, natural and environmental disasters and the spread of infectious illnesses or other public health emergencies may adversely affect the global economy and the markets and issuers in which a Fund invests. Recent examples of such events include the outbreak of a novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 that was first detected in China in December 2019, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and heightened concerns regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missile programs. These events could reduce consumer demand or economic output, result in market closure, travel restrictions or quarantines, and generally have a significant impact on the global economy. These events could also impair the information technology and other operational systems upon which a Fund’s service providers, including the investment adviser and sub-adviser, rely, and could otherwise disrupt the ability of employees of a Fund’s service providers to perform essential tasks on behalf of a Fund. Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world have in the past responded to major economic disruptions with a variety of significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, including but not limited to, direct capital infusions into companies, new monetary programs and dramatically lower interest rates. An unexpected or quick reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of these policies, could increase volatility in securities markets, which could adversely affect a Fund’s investments.

Other investment companies risk: When a Fund invests in other investment companies, such as ETFs, shareholders bear both their proportionate share of Fund expenses and, indirectly, the expenses of the other investment companies. Furthermore, a Fund is exposed to the risks to which the other investment companies may be subject. For Funds that invest in index-based ETFs, while such ETFs seek to achieve the same returns as a particular market index, the performance of an ETF may diverge from the performance of such index (commonly known as tracking error).

Restricted securities risk (NUAG only): The Fund may invest in privately-issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “1933 Act”). Privately-issued 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 or economic 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. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund’s NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately-issued security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund.

Zero coupon bonds risk (NUAG and NUSA only): As interest on zero coupon bonds is not paid on a current basis, the values of the bonds are subject to greater fluctuations than are the value of bonds that distribute income

 

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regularly and may be more speculative than such bonds. Accordingly, the values of zero coupon bonds may be highly volatile as interest rates rise or fall. In addition, while zero coupon bonds generate income for purposes of generally accepted accounting standards, they do not generate cash flow and thus could cause a Fund to be forced to liquidate securities at an inopportune time in order to distribute cash, as required by tax laws.

 

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Section 3    Fund Management

 

LOGO

Nuveen Fund Advisors, LLC (the “Adviser”), each Fund’s investment adviser, offers advisory and investment management services to a broad range of clients, including investment companies and other pooled investment vehicles. The Adviser has overall responsibility for management of the Funds, oversees the management of each Fund’s portfolio, manages each Fund’s business affairs and provides certain clerical, bookkeeping and other administrative services. In addition, the Adviser arranges for sub-advisory, transfer agency, custody, fund administration and all other non-distribution related services necessary for each Fund to operate. The Adviser is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nuveen, LLC (“Nuveen”), the investment management arm of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (“TIAA”). TIAA is a life insurance company founded in 1918 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and is the companion organization of College Retirement Equities Fund (“CREF”). As of September 30, 2023, Nuveen managed approximately $1.1 trillion in assets, of which approximately $134.5 billion was managed by the Adviser. The Adviser is located at 333 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606.

The Adviser has selected its affiliate, Teachers Advisors, LLC (the “Sub-Adviser”), to serve as sub-adviser to the Funds, responsible for the day-to-day management of each Fund’s portfolio. As of September 30, 2023, the Sub-Adviser, a subsidiary of Nuveen, managed approximately $351 billion in assets. The Sub-Adviser is located at 730 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10017-3206.

The portfolio managers for the Funds are Vivian Liu and James Tsang.

 

                 Total Experience
(since dates
specified below)
 

Name & Title
   Experience Over Past Five Years      At TIAA        Total  
Rui (Vivian) Liu, CFA
Director
   Portfolio
Manager
   Teachers Advisors, LLC, TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC and other advisory affiliates of TIAA – 2019 to Present (quantitative and fixed income portfolio management)        2019          2011  
James Tsang, CFA
Senior Director
   Portfolio
Manager
   Teachers Advisors, LLC, TIAA-CREF Investment Management, LLC and other advisory affiliates of TIAA – 2007 to Present (quantitative and fixed income portfolio management)        2007          1997  

Additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities in the Funds is provided in the statement of additional information.

 

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LOGO

As compensation for the services it provided to each Fund during the fiscal year ended July 31, 2023, the Adviser received a management fee from the Fund based on a percentage of the Fund’s average daily net assets, in the amounts set forth below:

 

Fund Name    Management Fee  
Nuveen Enhanced Yield U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      0.20
Nuveen ESG 1-5 Year U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      0.19 %1 
Nuveen ESG High Yield Corporate Bond ETF      0.30
Nuveen ESG U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF      0.15
  1 

The Fund reduced its management fee to 0.15% effective June 30, 2023.

The Adviser is responsible for substantially all other expenses of each Fund, except any future distribution and/or service fees, interest expenses, taxes, acquired fund fees and expenses, fees incurred in acquiring and disposing of portfolio securities, fees and expenses of the independent trustees (including any trustees’ counsel fees), certain compensation expenses of the Funds’ chief compliance officer, litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses.

Information regarding the Board’s approval of the investment management agreements is available in the Funds’ annual report for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2023.

 

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Section 4    Investing in the Funds

 

LOGO

Each Fund is an ETF, which differs from a mutual fund in important ways. Shares of a mutual fund are purchased and redeemed by all shareholders directly from the issuing fund at NAV. By contrast, most investors will buy and sell shares of the Funds through a broker on a national securities exchange, where each Fund’s shares are listed and trade throughout the day at market prices like shares of other publicly traded securities. The Funds do not impose any minimum investment for shares of a Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. Each Fund’s shares trade under the trading symbol listed on the cover of this prospectus.

Purchasing or selling shares of a Fund on an exchange or other secondary market typically involves two types of costs. When purchasing or selling shares of a Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the “spread,” that is, any difference on the exchange between the bid price and the ask price for a share of a Fund. The spread will vary over time based on a Fund’s trading volume and market liquidity.

Each Fund’s primary listing exchange is the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “Listing Exchange”). The Listing Exchange is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth Holiday, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

Book Entry

Shares of the Funds are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company (“DTC”) or its nominee is the record owner of all outstanding shares of the Funds and is recognized as the owner of all shares for all purposes.

Investors owning shares of a Fund are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for shares of the Funds. DTC participants include securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies, clearing corporations and other institutions that directly or indirectly maintain a custodial relationship with DTC. As a beneficial owner of shares, you are not entitled to receive physical delivery of stock certificates or to have shares registered in your name, and you are not considered a registered owner of shares. Therefore, to exercise any right as an owner of shares, you must rely upon the procedures of DTC and its participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book-entry or “street name” form.

Share Trading Prices

The trading prices of a Fund’s shares on the Listing Exchange generally differ from the Fund’s NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for the Fund’s shares as well as the securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors. The price you pay or receive when you buy or sell your shares in the secondary market is based on the market price of a Fund’s shares, which may be more or less than the NAV of such shares.

 

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Householding

Householding is a method of delivery, based on the preference of the individual investor, in which a single copy of certain shareholder documents can be delivered to investors who share the same address, even if their accounts are registered under different names. Please contact your broker-dealer if you are interested in enrolling in householding and receiving a single copy of prospectuses and other shareholder documents, or if you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status.

Investments by Registered Investment Companies

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act restricts investments by registered investment companies in the securities of other investment companies, including shares of the Funds. Registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Funds beyond the limits set forth in Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, including that such investment companies enter into an agreement with the Funds.

 

LOGO

Only certain institutional investors (typically market makers or other broker-dealers) who have entered into agreements with Nuveen Securities, LLC, the Funds’ distributor (the “Distributor”) (“Authorized Participants”), may purchase and redeem shares directly from the Funds at NAV and only in large blocks of shares or multiples thereof (“Creation Units”). Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by a Fund. An Authorized Participant must be either a DTC participant or a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation (“NSCC”).

The Funds generally issue and redeem Creation Units in exchange for a designated in-kind basket of Fund securities and/or a designated amount of cash (together, the “Basket”). Each day the Listing Exchange is open for trading (a “Business Day”), prior to the opening of trading, each Fund publishes that day’s Basket through NSCC or another method of public dissemination.

Orders from Authorized Participants to create or redeem Creation Units may only be placed on a Business Day and are subject to approval by the Distributor. The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after an order is received and deemed acceptable by the Distributor.

Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Funds’ statement of additional information.

 

LOGO

Nuveen Securities, LLC, the Funds’ distributor, distributes Creation Units for the Funds on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Funds. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Funds or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Funds. The Distributor’s principal address is 333 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606.

 

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LOGO

Distribution and Service Plan

Each Fund has adopted a Distribution and Service Plan in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act pursuant to which the Fund is authorized to pay fees at an annual rate of up to 0.25% of the Fund’s average daily net assets for the sale and distribution of the Fund’s shares. No distribution fees are currently charged to the Funds; there are no plans to impose distribution fees, and no such fees will be charged for at least twelve months from the date of this prospectus. Additionally, the implementation of any such fees would require approval by the Board prior to implementation. Because these fees would be paid out of a Fund’s assets on an on-going basis, if such fees are charged in the future, they would increase the cost of your investment and might cost you more over time than paying other types of sales charges.

Other Payments by the Adviser

The Adviser and/or its affiliates may make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, “intermediaries”) related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Funds and certain other Nuveen ETFs available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Funds. Rather, such payments are made by the Adviser and/or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Nuveen ETFs complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Funds or other Nuveen ETFs over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Funds’ statement of additional information.

 

LOGO

The Funds do not impose any restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions (“frequent trading”); however, the Funds reserve the right to reject or limit purchases at any time as described in the statement of additional information. In determining that no restrictions on frequent trading were necessary, the Board evaluated the risks of frequent trading to the Funds and their shareholders. The Board considered that a Fund’s shares can only be purchased and redeemed directly from the Fund in Creation Units by Authorized Participants, and that the vast majority of trading in the Funds’ shares occurs on the secondary market. Because secondary market trades do not involve the Funds directly, the Board concluded that such trades were unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent trading, including dilution, disruption of portfolio management, increases in a Fund’s trading costs and the realization of capital gains. With respect to purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants directly from the Funds that are effected in-kind (i.e., for securities), the Board concluded that those trades do not have the potential to cause the harmful effects that may result from

 

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frequent cash trades. To the extent that a Fund may effect the purchase or redemption of Creation Units in exchange wholly or partially for cash, the Board recognized that such trades could result in dilution to the Fund and increased transaction costs, which could negatively impact the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. However, the Board noted that direct trading by Authorized Participants is critical to ensuring that a Fund’s shares trade at or close to NAV. In addition, the Board recognized that the Funds impose fixed and variable transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units to cover the custodial and other costs incurred by the Funds in effecting trades.

 

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Section 5    General Information

 

LOGO

As a Fund shareholder, you are entitled to your share of the Fund’s income and net realized gains on its investments. Each Fund pays out substantially all of its net earnings to its shareholders as dividends and distributions.

Each Fund may earn interest from debt securities. These amounts, net of expenses and taxes (if applicable), are passed along to Fund shareholders as dividends. Dividends, if any, are declared and paid monthly.

Each Fund will generally realize short-term capital gains or losses whenever it sells assets held for one year or less. Net short-term capital gains will generally be treated as ordinary income when distributed to shareholders. Each Fund will generally realize long-term capital gains or losses whenever it sells assets held for more than one year. Net capital gains (the excess of a Fund’s net long-term capital gains over its net short-term capital losses) are distributed to shareholders once a year at year end.

Each Fund reserves the right to declare special distributions if such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.

Your broker is responsible for distributing any dividends and capital gain distributions to you.

Dividend Reinvestment Service

No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Funds. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by beneficial owners of a Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Funds purchased in the secondary market.

 

LOGO

As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Funds will be taxed. The tax information in this prospectus is provided as general information, based on current laws, which may be changed by legislative, judicial or administrative action. You should not consider this summary to be a comprehensive explanation of the tax treatment of the Funds, or the tax consequences of an investment in the Funds. There is no guarantee that shares of the Funds will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Funds. Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Funds make distributions, you sell Fund shares, or (for Authorized Participants only) you purchase or redeem Creation Units.

 

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Taxes and Tax Reporting

Each Fund intends to qualify each year for treatment as a regulated investment company. If it meets certain minimum distribution requirements, a regulated investment company is not subject to tax at the fund level on income and gains from investments that are timely distributed to shareholders. However, a Fund’s failure to qualify as a regulated investment company or to meet minimum distribution requirements would result (if certain relief provisions were not available) in fund-level taxation and, consequently, a reduction in income available for distribution to shareholders.

Each Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxed as ordinary income or capital gains. Distributions of a Fund’s net capital gain are taxable as long-term capital gains regardless of how long you have owned your shares. For non-corporate shareholders, long-term capital gains are generally taxable at tax rates up to 20% (lower tax rates apply to individuals in lower tax brackets), while distributions from short-term capital gains and net investment income are generally taxable as ordinary income. The tax you pay on a given capital gains distribution depends generally on how long the Fund has held the portfolio securities it sold and not on how long you have owned your Fund shares.

Dividends that are reported by a Fund as qualified dividend income are generally taxable to non-corporate shareholders at tax rates of up to 20% (lower rates apply to individuals in lower tax brackets). Qualified dividend income generally is income derived from dividends paid to a Fund by U.S. corporations or certain foreign corporations that are either incorporated in a U.S. possession or eligible for tax benefits under certain U.S. income tax treaties. In addition, dividends that a Fund receives in respect of stock of certain foreign corporations may be qualified dividend income if that stock is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market. For dividends to be taxed as qualified dividend income to a non-corporate shareholder, a Fund must satisfy certain holding period requirements with respect to the underlying stock and the non-corporate shareholder must satisfy holding period requirements with respect to his or her ownership of Fund shares. Holding periods may be suspended for these purposes for stock that is hedged. Since a Fund’s income is derived primarily from interest income, it is not expected that a Fund will distribute “qualified dividend income” or income that would qualify for the dividends-received deduction for corporate shareholders.

The sale of shares in your account may produce a gain or loss, and is a taxable event. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if you held the shares you sold for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as a short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on a sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent of long-term capital gain dividends paid with respect to such shares. The ability to deduct capital losses may be limited depending on your circumstances.

In general, your distributions are subject to federal income tax for the year in which they are paid. Distributions paid in January, but declared and payable to shareholders of record in October, November or December of the prior year, however, may be taxable to you in the prior year. Distributions are

 

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generally taxable even if they are paid from income or gains earned by a Fund before your investment (and thus were included in the price you paid for your shares).

Early in each year, you will receive a statement from the firm through which you hold your Fund shares detailing the amount and nature of all distributions that you were paid during the prior year. The tax status of your distributions is the same whether you reinvest them or elect to receive them in cash.

Dividends and distributions from the Funds and capital gain on the sale of Fund shares are generally taken into account in determining a shareholder’s “net investment income” for purposes of the Medicare contribution tax applicable to certain individuals, estates and trusts.

When seeking to satisfy redemption requests in whole or in part on a cash basis, a Fund may be required to sell portfolio securities in order to obtain the cash needed to distribute redemption proceeds. This may cause a Fund to recognize investment income and/or capital gains or losses that it might not have recognized if it had completely satisfied the redemption in-kind. As a result, a Fund may be less tax efficient if it includes such a cash payment than if the in-kind redemption process were used.

Distributions (other than capital gain dividends) paid to individual shareholders that are neither citizens nor residents of the U.S. or to foreign entities will generally be subject to a U.S. withholding tax at the rate of 30%, unless a lower treaty rate applies. Gains realized by foreign shareholders from the sale or other disposition of shares of a Fund generally are not subject to U.S. taxation, unless the recipient is an individual who is physically present in the U.S. for 183 days or more per year. A Fund may, under certain circumstances, report all or a portion of a dividend as an “interest-related dividend” or a “short-term capital gain dividend,” which would generally be exempt from this 30% U.S. withholding tax, provided certain other requirements are met. Different tax consequences may result if you are a foreign shareholder engaged in a trade or business within the United States or if you are a foreign shareholder entitled to claim the benefits of a tax treaty.

Please note that if you do not furnish the Fund with your correct Social Security number or employer identification number, you fail to provide certain certifications to the Fund, you fail to certify whether you are a U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident alien, or the Internal Revenue Service notifies the Fund to withhold, federal law requires the Fund to withhold federal income tax from your distributions and redemption proceeds at the applicable withholding rate.

Buying or Selling Shares Close to a Record Date

Buying Fund shares shortly before the record date for a taxable dividend or capital gain distribution is commonly known as “buying the dividend” and generally should be avoided by taxable investors. The entire distribution may be taxable to you even though a portion of the distribution effectively represents a return of your purchase price.

Cost Basis Method

You may elect a cost basis method to apply to shares held in your account with your financial intermediary. The cost basis method you select will determine the order in which such shares are sold and how your cost basis information is calculated and subsequently reported to you and to the

 

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Internal Revenue Service. Please consult your tax advisor to determine which cost basis method best suits your specific situation. Please contact your financial intermediary for instructions on how to make your election. If you do not make an election, your financial intermediary will choose its own default cost basis method.

Taxes on Creation and Redemption of Creation Units

An Authorized Participant having the U.S. dollar as its functional currency for U.S. federal income tax purposes that exchanges securities for Creation Units generally will recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between (i) the sum of the market value of the Creation Units at the time of the exchange and any amount of cash received by the Authorized Participant in the exchange and (ii) the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate basis in the securities surrendered and any amount of cash paid for such Creation Units. An Authorized Participant who redeems Creation Units will generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the exchanger’s basis in the Creation Units and the sum of the aggregate U.S. dollar market value of the securities plus the amount of any cash received for such Creation Units. The Internal Revenue Service, however, may assert that a loss that is realized upon an exchange of securities for Creation Units may not be currently deducted under the rules governing “wash sales” (for a person who does not mark-to-market its holdings), or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic position.

Gain or loss recognized by an Authorized Participant upon an issuance of Creation Units in exchange for securities, or upon a redemption of Creation Units, may be capital or ordinary gain or loss depending on the circumstances. Any capital gain or loss realized upon an issuance of Creation Units in exchange for securities will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the securities have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon the redemption of a Creation Unit will generally be treated as long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund shares comprising the Creation Unit have been held for more than one year. Otherwise, such capital gains or losses are treated as short-term capital gains or losses.

Persons exchanging securities for Creation Units should consult their own tax advisors with respect to the tax treatment of any creation or redemption transaction and whether the wash sales rules apply and when a loss might be deductible. If you purchase or redeem Creation Units, you will be sent a confirmation statement showing how many Fund shares you purchased or redeemed and at what price.

The foregoing discussion summarizes some of the consequences under current U.S. federal tax law of an investment in the Funds. It is not a substitute for personal tax advice. You may also be subject to state and local taxation on Fund distributions and sales of shares. Consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Funds under all applicable tax laws.

 

LOGO

Each Fund’s NAV is determined as of the close of trading (normally 4:00 p.m. New York time) on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on each Business Day. NAV is generally based on prices at the time of the close of trading on the NYSE; however, trading in U.S. government securities, money market

 

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instruments and certain fixed-income securities is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of trading on the NYSE, and the values of such securities used in computing the NAV of each Fund are generally determined as of such times. Each Fund’s NAV per share is calculated by taking the value of the Fund’s total assets, including interest or dividends accrued but not yet collected, less all liabilities, and dividing by the total number of shares outstanding. Each Fund’s latest NAV per share is available on the Fund’s website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

In determining NAV, exchange-traded instruments generally are valued at the last reported sales price or official closing price on an exchange, if available. If such market quotations are not readily available or are not considered reliable, an exchange-traded instrument will be valued at its fair value as determined in good faith using procedures approved by the Adviser, subject to the oversight and review of the Board. For example, the fair value of an exchange-traded instrument may be determined using prices provided by independent pricing services or obtained from other sources, such as broker-dealer quotations. Independent pricing services typically value non-exchange-traded instruments utilizing a range of market-based inputs and assumptions, including readily available market quotations obtained from broker-dealers making markets in such instruments, cash flows, and transactions for comparable instruments. In pricing certain instruments, the pricing services may consider information about an instrument’s issuer or market activity provided by the Adviser or Sub-Adviser.

The price of an exchange-traded instrument may be determined unreliable in various circumstances. For example, a price may be deemed unreliable if it has not changed for an identified period of time, or has changed from the previous day’s price by more than a threshold amount, and recent transactions and/or broker dealer price quotations differ materially from the price in question.

The Board has designated the Adviser as the Funds’ valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act and delegated to the Adviser the day-to-day responsibility of making fair value determinations. All fair value determinations made by the Adviser are subject to review by the Board. As a general principle, the fair value of a portfolio instrument is the amount that an owner might reasonably expect to receive upon the instrument’s current sale. A range of factors and analysis may be considered when determining fair value, including relevant market data, interest rates, credit considerations and/or issuer specific news. However, fair valuation involves subjective judgments, and it is possible that the fair value determined for a portfolio instrument may be materially different from the value that could be realized upon the sale of that instrument.

 

LOGO

Information showing the number of days the market price of each Fund’s shares was greater than the Fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a premium) and the number of days it was less than the Fund’s NAV per share (i.e., at a discount) are made available on the Funds’ website at www.nuveen.com/etf.

 

54     Section 5    General Information


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LOGO

Brown Brothers Harriman (“BBH”) is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Funds.

 

LOGO

NUAG only:

The Fund’s Index is sponsored by ICE Data Indices, LLC (“ICE Data”). ICE Data is not affiliated with the Fund, the Adviser, the Sub-Adviser, the Distributor, BBH or any of their respective affiliates. The Adviser has entered into a license agreement with ICE Data to use the Index and sublicenses its rights thereunder to the Fund at no charge.

The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by ICE Data. ICE Data has not passed on the legality or suitability of, or the accuracy or adequacy of descriptions and disclosures relating to, the Fund, nor makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the Fund or the advisability of investing in the Fund, particularly the ability of the Index to track performance of any market or strategy. ICE Data’s only relationship to the Adviser is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names and the Index or components thereof. The Index is determined, composed and calculated by ICE Data without regard to the Adviser or the Fund or their holders. ICE Data has no obligation to take the needs of the Adviser or the shareholders of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Index. ICE Data is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund are to be priced, sold, purchased, or redeemed. ICE Data has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing, or trading of the Fund.

ICE DATA DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN AND ICE DATA SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, UNAVAILABILITY, OR INTERRUPTIONS THEREIN. ICE DATA MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY ADVISER, SHAREHOLDERS OF THE FUND OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. ICE DATA MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL ICE DATA HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS, EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

“ICE Data,” the “ICE BofA Enhanced Yield U.S. Broad Bond Indexsm” and the “ICE BofA Enhanced Yield 1-5 Year U.S. Broad Bond Indexsm” are trademarks of ICE Data or its affiliates and have been licensed for use by the Adviser.

 

Section 5    General Information     55


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NUSA, NUHY and NUBD only:

Each Fund’s Index is maintained by Bloomberg pursuant to an agreement between Bloomberg and MSCI ESG Research (collectively, the “Index Providers”). None of the Index Providers is affiliated with the Funds, the Adviser, the Sub-Adviser, the Distributor or any of their respective affiliates.

THE FUNDS ARE NOT SPONSORED, ENDORSED, SOLD OR PROMOTED BY MSCI ESG RESEARCH LLC (“MSCI ESG RESEARCH”), BLOOMBERG INDEX SERVICES LIMITED (“BLOOMBERG”) OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE AFFILIATES, INFORMATION PROVIDERS OR ANY OTHER THIRD PARTY (COLLECTIVELY, THE “INDEX PARTIES”) INVOLVED IN, OR RELATED TO, COMPILING, COMPUTING OR CREATING ANY BLOOMBERG MSCI ESG INDEX (EACH, AN “INDEX”). THE INDEXES ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE APPLICABLE INDEX PARTY. “BLOOMBERG”, “MSCI ESG RESEARCH”, AND THE INDEX NAMES, ARE THE RESPECTIVE TRADE AND/OR SERVICE MARKS OF BLOOMBERG, MSCI ESG RESEARCH, OR THEIR AFFILIATES AND HAVE BEEN LICENSED FOR USE FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES BY NUVEEN. NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES MAKES ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THESE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY REGARDING THE ADVISABILITY OF INVESTING IN FUNDS GENERALLY OR IN THESE FUNDS PARTICULARLY OR THE ABILITY OF ANY INDEX TO TRACK CORRESPONDING STOCK MARKET PERFORMANCE. MSCI ESG RESEARCH, BLOOMBERG, OR THEIR AFFILIATES ARE THE LICENSORS OF CERTAIN TRADEMARKS, SERVICE MARKS AND TRADE NAMES AND OF THE INDEXES WHICH ARE DETERMINED, COMPOSED AND CALCULATED BY BLOOMBERG AND/OR MSCI ESG RESEARCH WITHOUT REGARD TO THIS FUND OR THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THESE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY. NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION TO TAKE THE NEEDS OF THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THESE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY INTO CONSIDERATION IN DETERMINING, COMPOSING OR CALCULATING THE INDEXES. NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES IS RESPONSIBLE FOR OR HAS PARTICIPATED IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE TIMING OF, PRICES AT, OR QUANTITIES OF THESE FUNDS TO BE ISSUED OR IN THE DETERMINATION OR CALCULATION OF THE EQUATION BY OR THE CONSIDERATION INTO WHICH THESE FUNDS ARE REDEEMABLE. FURTHER, NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES HAS ANY OBLIGATION OR LIABILITY TO THE ISSUER OR OWNERS OF THESE FUNDS OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING OR OFFERING OF THESE FUNDS.

ALTHOUGH THE INDEX PARTIES SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES CONSIDERED RELIABLE, NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES WARRANTS OR GUARANTEES THE ORIGINALITY, ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF ANY INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES MAKES ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY THE ISSUER OF THE FUNDS, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY, FROM THE USE OF ANY INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. NONE OF THE INDEX PARTIES SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS OR INTERRUPTIONS OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH ANY INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. FURTHER, NONE OF THE

 

56     Section 5    General Information


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INDEX PARTIES MAKES ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, AND THE INDEX PARTIES HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO EACH INDEX AND ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY OF THE INDEX PARTIES HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

No purchaser, seller or holder of shares of the Fund, or any other person or entity, should use or refer to any MSCI ESG Research or Bloomberg trade name, trademark or service mark to sponsor, endorse, market or promote the Funds without first contacting MSCI ESG Research to determine whether permission is required. Under no circumstances may any person or entity claim any affiliation with MSCI ESG Research or Bloomberg without prior written permission.

 

LOGO

Shares of the Funds are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by the Listing Exchange. The Listing Exchange makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Funds or any member of the public regarding the ability of a Fund to track the total return performance of its Index or the ability of the Index to track fixed income performance. The Listing Exchange is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Indexes, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of or quantities of shares of the Funds to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. The Listing Exchange has no obligation or liability to owners of shares of the Funds in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of shares of the Funds. The Listing Exchange does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Indexes or any data included therein. The Listing Exchange makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust, on behalf of the Funds as licensees, licensees’ customers and counterparties, owners of shares of the Funds or any other person or entity, from the use of the Indexes or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use.

The Listing Exchange makes no express or implied warranties and hereby expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to the Indexes or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall the Listing Exchange have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.

 

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Section 6    Financial Highlights

 

The financial highlights table is intended to help you understand each Fund’s financial performance for the past five fiscal years or, if shorter, for the period of operations for a Fund. Certain information reflects financial results for a single Fund share. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in a Fund (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions).

This has been derived from information that has been audited by KPMG LLP, whose report for the most recent fiscal year, along with each Fund’s financial statements, are included in the annual report, which is available upon request.

Selected data for a share outstanding throughout the period:

 

                               
          Investment Operations     Less Distributions              
Year Ended
July 31,
 

Net Asset

Value,

Beginning

of Period

    Net
Investment
Income
(Loss)(a)
    Net
Realized/
Unrealized
Gain (Loss)
    Total     From
Net
Investment
Income
    From
Net Realized
Gains
    Total    

Net Asset

Value,

End of

Period

   

Market

Price,

End of

Period

 
NUAG                  
2023   $ 22.02     $ 0.75     $ (1.30   $ (0.55   $ (0.83   $ —       $ (0.83   $ 20.64     $ 20.68  
2022     25.17       0.39       (3.01     (2.62     (0.53     —         (0.53     22.02       22.09  
2021     26.08       0.33       (0.55     (0.22     (0.69     —         (0.69     25.17       25.18  
2020     24.49       0.55       1.88       2.43       (0.84     —         (0.84     26.08       26.05  
2019     23.49       0.75       1.09       1.84       (0.84     —         (0.84     24.49       24.44  
NUSA                  
2023     23.48       0.56       (0.58     (0.02     (0.63     —         (0.63     22.83       22.83  
2022     25.29       0.31       (1.62     (1.31     (0.50     —         (0.50     23.48       23.52  
2021     25.61       0.34       (0.08     0.26       (0.58     —         (0.58     25.29       25.31  
2020     24.86       0.55       0.90       1.45       (0.70     —         (0.70     25.61       25.69  
2019     24.30       0.62       0.65       1.27       (0.71     —         (0.71     24.86       24.89  
NUHY                  
2023     21.48       1.13       (0.65     0.48       (1.35     —         (1.35     20.61       20.68  
2022     24.71       1.02       (3.04     (2.02     (1.21     —         (1.21     21.48       21.63  
2021     24.43       1.04       0.47       1.51       (1.23     —         (1.23     24.71       24.78  
2020(d)     25.00       0.93       (0.53     0.40       (0.97     —         (0.97     24.43       24.74  
NUBD                  
2023     23.36       0.54       (1.36     (0.82     (0.67     —         (0.67     21.87       21.90  
2022     26.29       0.41       (2.81     (2.40     (0.53     —         (0.53     23.36       23.40  
2021     27.31       0.45       (0.92     (0.47     (0.55     —         (0.55     26.29       26.30  
2020     25.36       0.55       2.04       2.59       (0.64     —         (0.64     27.31       27.37  
2019     24.17       0.63       1.24       1.87       (0.68     —         (0.68     25.36       25.38  

 

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      Ratios/Supplemental Data  
Total Return           Ratios to Average Net Assets        
Based
on
Net Asset
Value(b)
    Based
on
Market
Price(b)
   

Net Assets,

End of Period
(000)

    Expenses     Net
Investment
Income (Loss)
    Portfolio
Turnover
Rate(c)
 
         
  (2.51 )%      (2.62 )%    $ 33,016       0.21     3.58     54
  (10.50     (10.27     165,182       0.20       1.65       81  
  (0.81     (0.64     173,676       0.20       1.32       235  
  10.11       10.19       80,845       0.20       2.21       208  
  8.03       7.77       71,019       0.20       3.17       167  
         
  (0.08     (0.20     41,089       0.20       2.43       78  
  (5.20     (5.13     37,566       0.20       1.27       77  
  1.03       0.80       40,456       0.20       1.33       46  
  5.93       6.15       35,854       0.20       2.20       51  
  5.37       5.31       27,349       0.20       2.54       36  
         
  2.47       2.07       103,043       0.31       5.50       44  
  (8.44     (8.07     96,652       0.31       4.42       56  
  6.32       5.25       96,378       0.35       4.14       65  
  1.79       3.02       56,195       0.35 (e)      4.55 (e)      47  
         
  (3.47     (3.53     273,413       0.16       2.47       14  
  (9.24     (9.09     256,945       0.16       1.64       45  
  (1.72     (1.90     262,884       0.20       1.69       33  
  10.38       10.51       147,489       0.20       2.07       18  
  7.89       7.84       55,786       0.20       2.59       27  

 

(a)

Based on average shares outstanding.

 

(b)

Percentage is not annualized.

 

(c)

Does not include in-kind transactions.

 

(d)

For the period September 25, 2019 (commencement of operations) through July 31, 2020.

 

(e)

Annualized.

 

Section 6    Financial Highlights     59


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LOGO

Several additional sources of information are available to you, including the codes of ethics adopted by the Funds, Nuveen, the Adviser and the Sub-Adviser. The statement of additional information, incorporated by reference into this prospectus, contains detailed information on the policies and operation of the Funds included in this prospectus. Additional information about the Funds’ investments will be available in the annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders. In the Funds’ annual report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected each Fund’s performance during its last fiscal year. The Funds’ most recent statement of additional information, annual and semi-annual reports and certain other information are available, free of charge, by calling Nuveen Investor Services at (888) 290-9881, on the Funds’ website at www.nuveen.com/etf, or through your financial advisor. Shareholders may call the toll free number above with any inquiries.

You may also obtain this and other Fund information directly from the SEC. Reports and other information about the Funds are available on the EDGAR Database on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. You may also request Fund information by sending an e-mail request to [email protected]. The SEC may charge a copying fee for this information.

Distributed by

Nuveen Securities, LLC

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, Illinois 60606

www.nuveen.com/etf

No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus in connection with the offer of Fund shares, and, if given or made, the information or representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by the Funds. Neither the delivery of this prospectus nor any sale of Fund shares shall under any circumstance imply that the information contained herein is correct as of any date after the date of this prospectus. Please read and keep this prospectus for future reference.

Dealers effecting transactions in Fund shares, whether or not participating in this distribution, are generally required to deliver a prospectus. This is in addition to any obligation of dealers to deliver a prospectus when acting as underwriters.

The Funds are a series of Nushares ETF Trust, whose Investment Company Act file number is 811-23161.

NPR-NUETF-1123P