Prospectus
John Hancock
Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF
Multifactor Emerging Markets ETF
International
equity
September 1, 2023
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NYSE
Arca: |
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JHEM |
The Securities and
Exchange Commission has not approved or disapproved these securities or passed
upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a
criminal offense.
Table of
contents
Fund summary
The summary section
is a concise look at the investment objective, fees and expenses, principal
investment strategies, principal risks, past performance, and investment
management.
Fund details
More about topics
covered in the summary section, including descriptions of the investment
strategies and various risk factors that investors should understand before
investing.
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15 |
Shareholder
information
Details regarding
buying and selling shares, as well as information about distributions, taxation,
and other matters relating to an investment in the fund.
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20 |
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21 |
Index
provider
Information on who
constructs the index that the fund seeks to replicate.
Other
information
Additional
information regarding the market price and net asset value of the fund, as well
as information relating to the continuous offering of the fund’s
shares.
For more information See
back cover
Fund
summary
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Management
fee |
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Other
expenses |
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Total
annual fund operating expenses |
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Contractual
expense reimbursement |
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1 |
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Total
annual fund operating expenses after expense
reimbursements |
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1
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Expenses
($) |
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1
year |
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3
years |
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5
years |
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10
years |
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1
Fund
summary
An investment in the fund is not a
bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation or any other government agency. Many factors affect performance, and
fund shares will fluctuate in price, meaning you could lose money.
The fund’s main risks are listed
below in alphabetical order, not in order of importance. Before investing,
be sure to read the additional descriptions of these risks beginning on page 6
of the prospectus.
2
Fund
summary
3
Fund
summary
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Since
Inception |
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1
year |
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Before
tax |
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after tax on
distributions |
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after tax on
distributions, with sale |
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John Hancock
Dimensional Emerging Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees,
expenses, or taxes) |
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MSCI Emerging
Markets Index (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses, or taxes, except
foreign withholding taxes on dividends) |
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Investment
management
Investment
advisor
John Hancock
Investment Management LLC
Subadvisor
Dimensional Fund
Advisors LP
4
Fund
summary
Portfolio
management
The following
individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management
of the fund’s portfolio.
|
Casey
Baum |
Rita
Chen |
Joseph
Hohn |
Andres
Torres |
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Vice
President and Portfolio
Manager
Managed the
fund since 2022 |
Vice
President and Portfolio
Manager
Managed the
fund since 2022 |
Vice
President and Senior Portfolio
Manager
Managed the
fund since 2018 |
Vice
President and Senior Portfolio
Manager
Managed the
fund since 2021 |
Purchase
and sale of fund shares
The fund will issue
and redeem shares at NAV only with authorized participants and only in a large
specified number of shares, each called a “creation unit,” or multiples thereof,
in exchange for the deposit or delivery of a basket of securities and/or cash.
Except when aggregated in creation units, the shares are not redeemable
securities of the fund.
Individual shares of
the fund may be purchased and sold only in secondary market transactions through
brokers or financial intermediaries. Shares of the fund are listed and traded on
the NYSE Arca. Because shares trade at market prices rather than NAV, shares of
the fund may trade at a price greater than NAV (premium) or less than NAV
(discount).
An investor may incur
costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is
willing to pay to purchase shares of the fund (bid) and the lowest price a
seller is willing to accept for shares of the fund (ask) when buying or selling
shares in the secondary market (bid-ask spread).
Recent information,
including information about the fund’s NAV, market price, premiums and
discounts, and bid-ask spreads, is included on the fund’s website at
jhinvestments.com/etf.
Taxes
The fund’s
distributions are taxable, and will be taxed as ordinary income and/or capital
gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement, such as a
401(k) plan or individual retirement account. Withdrawals from such tax-deferred
arrangements may be subject to tax at a later date.
Payments
to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries
The advisor and its
related companies may pay broker-dealers or other financial intermediaries (such
as a bank) for the sale of the fund shares and related services. These payments
may create a conflict of interest by influencing your broker-dealer or other
intermediary or its employees or associated persons to recommend the fund over
another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial
intermediary’s website for more information.
5
Fund
details
Principal
investment strategies
Investment
Objective:
The fund seeks to
provide investment results that closely correspond, before fees and expenses, to
the performance of the Index.
The Board of Trustees
can change the fund’s investment objective and strategy without shareholder
approval. The fund will provide written notice to shareholders at least 60 days
prior to a change in its 80% investment policy.
The fund normally
invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus any borrowings for investment
purposes) in securities included in the fund’s Index, in depositary receipts
representing securities included in the fund’s Index, and in underlying stocks
in respect of depositary receipts included in the fund’s Index. The manager
anticipates that, generally, the fund will hold all of the securities that
compose the Index in proportion to their weightings in the Index. However, under
various circumstances, it may not be possible or practicable to purchase all of
those securities in those weightings. In these circumstances, the fund may
purchase a sample of securities in the Index. There also may be instances in
which the manager may choose to underweight or overweight a security in the
Index, purchase securities not in the Index that the manager believes are
appropriate to substitute for certain securities in the Index, or utilize
various combinations of other available investment techniques. The fund may sell
securities that are represented in the Index in anticipation of their removal
from the Index or purchase securities not represented in the Index in
anticipation of their addition to the Index. The fund may also, in order to
comply with the tax diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986, as amended (Code), temporarily invest in securities not included in the
Index that are expected to be correlated with the securities included in the
Index.
Given the fund’s
investment objective of attempting to track the Index, the fund does not follow
traditional methods of active investment management, which may involve buying
and selling securities based upon analysis of economic and market factors. Also,
unlike many investment companies, the fund does not attempt to outperform the
Index that it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when
markets decline or appear overvalued. The fund may deviate from its principal
investment strategies during transition periods, which may include the
reassignment of portfolio management, a change in investment objective or
strategy, a reorganization or liquidation, or the occurrence of large inflows or
outflows.
The fund may
concentrate its investments in a particular industry or group of industries to
the extent that the Index concentrates in an industry or group of
industries.
Additional
investment strategies
Derivatives
and other investments
The fund may also
invest up to 20% of its assets in securities and other instruments not included
in the Index but that the manager believes are correlated to the Index, as well
as in, among other instruments, futures, options on futures, and other
derivatives to obtain efficient market exposure, and cash, cash equivalents, and
money market instruments. The fund may also invest, to the extent permitted by
the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, in other affiliated and
unaffiliated
funds, such as
open-end or closed-end management investment companies, including other
exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Securities
lending
The fund may lend its
securities so long as such loans do not represent more than 33⅓% of the fund’s
total assets. The borrower will provide collateral to the lending portfolio so
that the value of the loaned security will be fully collateralized. The
collateral may consist of cash, cash equivalents, or securities issued or
guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities. The
borrower must also agree to increase the collateral if the value of the loaned
securities increases. As with other extensions of credit, there are risks of
delay in recovery or even loss of rights in the collateral should the borrower
of the securities fail financially. The fund could also lose money if
investments made with cash collateral decline in value.
Principal
risks of investing
An investment in the
fund is not a bank deposit and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. The fund’s shares
will go up and down in price, meaning that you could lose money by investing in
the fund. Many factors influence a fund’s performance.
Instability in the
financial markets has led many governments, including the U.S. government, to
take a number of unprecedented actions designed to support certain financial
institutions and segments of the financial markets that have experienced extreme
volatility and, in some cases, a lack of liquidity. Federal, state, and other
governments, and their regulatory agencies or self-regulatory organizations, may
take actions that affect the regulation of the instruments in which the fund
invests, or the issuers of such instruments, in ways that are unforeseeable.
Legislation or regulation may also change the way in which the fund itself is
regulated. Such legislation or regulation could limit or preclude the fund’s
ability to achieve its investment objective. In addition, political events
within the United States and abroad could negatively impact financial markets
and the fund’s performance.
Governments or their
agencies may also acquire distressed assets from financial institutions and
acquire ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of
government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear, and such a
program may have positive or negative effects on the liquidity, valuation, and
performance of the fund’s portfolio holdings. Furthermore, volatile financial
markets can expose the fund to greater market and liquidity risk, increased
transaction costs, and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments
held by the fund.
The principal risks
of investing in the fund are summarized in its fund summary above. Below are
descriptions of the main factors that may play a role in shaping the fund’s
overall risk profile. The descriptions appear in alphabetical order, not in
order of importance. For further details about fund risks, including additional
risk factors that are not discussed in this prospectus because they are not
considered primary factors, see the fund's Statement of Additional Information
(SAI).
Active
trading market risk
While the fund’s
shares are listed on NYSE Arca, there can be no assurance that active trading
markets for the shares will develop or be
6
Fund
details
maintained by market
makers or authorized participants, and there are no obligations of market makers
to make a market in the fund’s shares or to submit purchase or redemption orders
for creation units. Although market makers will generally take advantage of
differences between the NAV and the trading price of fund shares through
arbitrage opportunities, there is no guarantee that they will do so. Decisions
by market makers or authorized participants to reduce their role with respect to
market making or creation/redemption activities in times of market stress could
inhibit the effectiveness of the arbitrage process in maintaining the
relationship between the underlying value of the fund’s portfolio securities and
the fund’s market price. This reduced effectiveness could result in shares
trading at a discount to NAV and also in greater than normal intraday bid-ask
spreads for shares.
Authorized
participant concentration risk
Only an authorized
participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the
fund. The fund has a limited number of intermediaries that act as authorized
participants. To the extent that these intermediaries exit the business or are
unable to proceed with creation and/or redemption orders with respect to the
fund and no other authorized participant is able to create or redeem in their
place, shares may trade at a discount to NAV and may face delisting. The
authorized participant concentration risk may be heightened because authorized
participants may be required to post collateral, which only certain authorized
participants may be able to do. To the extent that authorized participants exit
the business or are unable to process creations or redemptions or similar
activities, this may result in a significantly diminished trading market for
fund shares.
Economic
and market events risk
Events in certain
sectors historically have resulted, and may in the future result, in an
unusually high degree of volatility in the financial markets, both domestic and
foreign. These events have included, but are not limited to: bankruptcies,
corporate restructurings, and other similar events; governmental efforts to
limit short selling and high frequency trading; measures to address U.S. federal
and state budget deficits; social, political, and economic instability in
Europe; economic stimulus by the Japanese central bank; dramatic changes in
energy prices and currency exchange rates; and China’s economic slowdown.
Interconnected global economies and financial markets increase the possibility
that conditions in one country or region might adversely impact issuers in a
different country or region. Both domestic and foreign equity markets have
experienced increased volatility and turmoil, with issuers that have exposure to
the real estate, mortgage, and credit markets particularly affected. Financial
institutions could suffer losses as interest rates rise or economic conditions
deteriorate.
In addition,
relatively high market volatility and reduced liquidity in credit and
fixed-income markets may adversely affect many issuers worldwide. Actions taken
by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) or foreign central banks to stimulate or
stabilize economic growth, such as interventions in currency markets, could
cause high volatility in the equity and fixed-income markets. Reduced liquidity
may result in less money being available to purchase raw materials, goods, and
services from emerging markets, which may, in turn, bring down the prices of
these economic staples. It may also result in emerging-market issuers having
more
difficulty obtaining
financing, which may, in turn, cause a decline in their securities
prices.
Beginning in March 2022, the Fed
began increasing interest rates and has signaled the potential for further
increases. As a result, risks associated with rising interest rates are
currently heightened. It is difficult to accurately predict the pace at which
the Fed will increase interest rates any further, or the timing, frequency or
magnitude of any such increases, and the evaluation of macro-economic and other
conditions could cause a change in approach in the future. Any such increases
generally will cause market interest rates to rise and could cause the value of
a fund’s investments, and the fund’s net asset value (NAV), to decline,
potentially suddenly and significantly. As a result, the fund may experience
high redemptions and, as a result, increased portfolio turnover, which could
increase the costs that the fund incurs and may negatively impact the fund’s
performance.
In addition, as the Fed increases the
target Fed funds rate, any such rate increases, among other factors, could cause
markets to experience continuing high volatility. A significant increase in
interest rates may cause a decline in the market for equity securities. These
events and the possible resulting market volatility may have an adverse effect
on the fund.
Political turmoil
within the United States and abroad may also impact the fund. Although the U.S.
government has honored its credit obligations, it remains possible that the
United States could default on its obligations. While it is impossible to
predict the consequences of such an unprecedented event, it is likely that a
default by the United States would be highly disruptive to the U.S. and global
securities markets and could significantly impair the value of the fund’s
investments. Similarly, political events within the United States at times have
resulted, and may in the future result, in a shutdown of government services,
which could negatively affect the U.S. economy, decrease the value of many fund
investments, and increase uncertainty in or impair the operation of the U.S. or
other securities markets. In recent years, the U.S. renegotiated many of its
global trade relationships and imposed or threatened to impose significant
import tariffs. These actions could lead to price volatility and overall
declines in U.S. and global investment markets.
Uncertainties surrounding the
sovereign debt of a number of European Union (EU) countries and the viability of
the EU have disrupted and may in the future disrupt markets in the United States
and around the world. If one or more countries leave the EU or the EU dissolves,
the global securities markets likely will be
significantly disrupted. On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) left the
EU, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” and the UK ceased to be a member of the
EU. Following a transition period during which the EU and the UK Government
engaged in a series of negotiations regarding the terms of the UK’s future
relationship with the EU, the EU and the UK Government signed an agreement
regarding the economic relationship between the UK and the EU. While the full
impact of Brexit is unknown, Brexit has already resulted in volatility in
European and global markets. There remains significant market uncertainty
regarding Brexit’s ramifications, and the range and potential implications of
possible political, regulatory, economic, and market outcomes are difficult to
predict. This uncertainty may affect other countries in the EU and elsewhere,
and may cause volatility within
7
Fund
details
the EU, triggering prolonged economic
downturns in certain countries within the EU. Despite the influence of the
lockdowns, and the economic bounce back, Brexit has had a material impact on the
UK’s economy. Additionally, trade between the UK and the EU did not benefit from
the global rebound in trade in 2021, and remained at the very low levels
experienced in the first quarter of 2020, highlighting Brexit’s potential
long-term effects on the UK economy.
In addition, Brexit may create
additional and substantial economic stresses for the UK, including a contraction
of the UK economy and price volatility in UK stocks, decreased trade, capital
outflows, devaluation of the British pound, wider corporate bond spreads due to
uncertainty and declines in business and consumer spending as well as foreign
direct investment. Brexit may also adversely affect UK-based financial firms
that have counterparties in the EU or participate in market infrastructure
(trading venues, clearing houses, settlement facilities) based in the
EU.
A widespread health crisis such as a
global pandemic could cause substantial market volatility, exchange trading
suspensions and closures, which may lead to less liquidity in certain
instruments, industries, sectors or the markets generally, and may ultimately
affect fund performance. For example, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has
resulted and may continue to result in significant disruptions to global
business activity and market volatility due to disruptions in market access,
resource availability, facilities operations, imposition of tariffs, export
controls and supply chain disruption, among others. While many countries have
lifted some or all restrictions related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the
United States ended the public health emergency and national emergency
declarations relating to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on May 11, 2023,
the continued impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) and related variants is
uncertain. The impact of a health crisis and other epidemics and pandemics that
may arise in the future, could affect the global economy in ways that cannot
necessarily be foreseen at the present time. A health crisis may exacerbate
other pre-existing political, social and economic risks. Any such impact could
adversely affect the fund’s performance, resulting in losses to your
investment.
Political and
military events, including in Ukraine, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Iran,
Syria, and other areas of the Middle East, and nationalist unrest in Europe and
South America, also may cause market disruptions.
As a result of
continued political tensions and armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion
of Ukraine commencing in February of 2022, the extent and ultimate result of
which are unknown at this time, the United States and the EU, along with the
regulatory bodies of a number of countries, have imposed economic sanctions on
certain Russian corporate entities and individuals, and certain sectors of
Russia’s economy, which may result in, among other things, the continued
devaluation of Russian currency, a downgrade in the country’s credit rating,
and/or a decline in the value and liquidity of Russian securities, property or
interests. These sanctions could also result in the immediate freeze of Russian
securities and/or funds invested in prohibited assets, impairing the ability of
a fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities and/or assets. These
sanctions or the threat of additional sanctions could also result in Russia
taking counter measures or retaliatory actions, which may further impair the
value and liquidity of
Russian securities.
The United States and other nations or international organizations may also
impose additional economic sanctions or take other actions that may adversely
affect Russia-exposed issuers and companies in various sectors of the Russian
economy. Any or all of these potential results could lead Russia’s economy into
a recession. Economic sanctions and other actions against Russian institutions,
companies, and individuals resulting from the ongoing conflict may also have a
substantial negative impact on other economies and securities markets both
regionally and globally, as well as on companies with operations in the conflict
region, the extent to which is unknown at this time. The United States and the
EU have also imposed similar sanctions on Belarus for its support of Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine. Additional sanctions may be imposed on Belarus and other
countries that support Russia. Any such sanctions could present substantially
similar risks as those resulting from the sanctions imposed on Russia, including
substantial negative impacts on the regional and global economies and securities
markets.
In addition, there is
a risk that the prices of goods and services in the United States and many
foreign economies may decline over time, known as deflation. Deflation may have
an adverse effect on stock prices and creditworthiness and may make defaults on
debt more likely. If a country’s economy slips into a deflationary pattern, it
could last for a prolonged period and may be difficult to reverse. Further,
there is a risk that the present value of assets or income from investments will
be less in the future, known as inflation. Inflation rates may change frequently
and drastically as a result of various factors, including unexpected shifts in
the domestic or global economy, and a fund’s investments may be affected, which
may reduce a fund’s performance. Further, inflation may lead to the rise in
interest rates, which may negatively affect the value of debt instruments held
by the fund, resulting in a negative impact on a fund’s performance. Generally,
securities issued in emerging markets are subject to a greater risk of
inflationary or deflationary forces, and more developed markets are better able
to use monetary policy to normalize markets.
Equity
securities risk
Common and preferred
stocks represent equity ownership in a company. Stock markets are volatile. The
price of equity securities will fluctuate, and can decline and reduce the value
of a fund investing in equities. The price of equity securities fluctuates based
on changes in a company’s financial condition and overall market and economic
conditions. The value of equity securities purchased by a fund could decline if
the financial condition of the companies in which the fund is invested declines,
or if overall market and economic conditions deteriorate. An issuer’s financial
condition could decline as a result of poor management decisions, competitive
pressures, technological obsolescence, undue reliance on suppliers, labor
issues, shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, irregular
and/or unexpected trading activity among retail investors, or other factors.
Changes in the financial condition of a single issuer can impact the market as a
whole.
Even a fund that
invests in high-quality, or blue chip, equity securities, or securities of
established companies with large market capitalizations (which generally have
strong financial characteristics), can be negatively impacted by poor overall
market and economic conditions. Companies with large market capitalizations may
also have less growth potential
8
Fund
details
than smaller
companies and may be less able to react quickly to changes in the
marketplace.
The fund generally
does not attempt to time the market. Because of its exposure to equities, the
possibility that stock market prices in general will decline over short or
extended periods subjects the fund to unpredictable declines in the value of its
investments, as well as periods of poor performance.
ETF
trading risk
The market price of
shares, like other exchange-traded securities, may include a “bid-ask spread”
(the difference between the price at which investors are willing to buy shares
and the price at which investors are willing to sell shares). The bid-ask spread
may vary over time based on the fund’s trading volume and market liquidity and
may increase as a result of a decrease in the fund’s trading volume, the spread
of the fund’s underlying securities, or reduced market liquidity. The bid-ask
spread may increase significantly in times of market disruption, meaning that
shares may trade at a discount to the fund’s NAV. Such discount is likely to be
greatest during significant market volatility. In stressed market conditions,
the market for a fund’s shares may become less liquid in response to
deteriorating liquidity in the markets for the fund’s underlying portfolio
holdings. This in turn could lead to differences between the market price of the
fund’s shares and the underlying value of those shares.
Shares of the fund,
similar to shares of other publicly-traded securities, may be sold short and are
therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases
associated with being sold short.
The fund’s underlying
securities may be traded in markets that close at a different time than the NYSE
Arca. Liquidity in those securities may be reduced after the applicable closing
times. Accordingly, during the time when the NYSE Arca is open but after the
applicable market closing, fixing or settlement times, bid-ask spreads on the
NYSE Arca and the corresponding premium or discount to the shares’ NAV may
widen.
Foreign
securities risk
Funds that invest in
securities traded principally in securities markets outside the United States
are subject to additional and more varied risks, as the value of foreign
securities may change more rapidly and extremely than the value of U.S.
securities. Less information may be publicly available regarding foreign
issuers, including foreign government issuers. Foreign securities may be subject
to foreign taxes and may be more volatile than U.S. securities. Currency
fluctuations and political and economic developments may adversely impact the
value of foreign securities. The securities markets of many foreign countries
are relatively small, with a limited number of companies representing a small
number of industries. Additionally, issuers of foreign securities may not be
subject to the same degree of regulation as U.S. issuers. Reporting, accounting,
and auditing standards of foreign countries differ, in some cases significantly,
from U.S. standards. There are generally higher commission rates on foreign
portfolio transactions, transfer taxes, higher custodial costs, and the
possibility that foreign taxes will be charged on dividends and interest payable
on foreign securities, some or all of which may not be reclaimable. Also,
adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations (which may include
suspension of the
ability to transfer
currency or assets from a country); political changes; or diplomatic
developments could adversely affect a fund’s investments. In the event of
nationalization, expropriation, confiscatory taxation, or other confiscation,
the fund could lose a substantial portion of, or its entire investment in, a
foreign security. Some of the foreign securities risks are also applicable to
funds that invest a material portion of their assets in securities of foreign
issuers traded in the United States.
If applicable,
depositary receipts are subject to most of the risks associated with investing
in foreign securities directly because the value of a depositary receipt is
dependent upon the market price of the underlying foreign equity security.
Depositary receipts are also subject to liquidity risk. Additionally, the
Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) could cause securities of
foreign companies, including American depositary receipts, to be delisted from
U.S. stock exchanges if the companies do not allow the U.S. government to
oversee the auditing of their financial information. Although the requirements
of the HFCAA apply to securities of all foreign issuers, the SEC has thus far
limited its enforcement efforts to securities of Chinese companies. If
securities are delisted, a fund’s ability to transact in such securities will be
impaired, and the liquidity and market price of the securities may decline. The
fund may also need to seek other markets in which to transact in such
securities, which could increase the fund’s costs.
Currency
risk.
Currency risk is the
risk that fluctuations in exchange rates may adversely affect the U.S. dollar
value of a fund’s investments. Currency risk includes both the risk that
currencies in which a fund’s investments are traded, or currencies in which a
fund has taken an active investment position, will decline in value relative to
the U.S. dollar and, in the case of hedging positions, that the U.S. dollar will
decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. Currency rates in
foreign countries may fluctuate significantly for a number of reasons, including
the forces of supply and demand in the foreign exchange markets, actual or
perceived changes in interest rates, intervention (or the failure to intervene)
by U.S. or foreign governments or central banks, or currency controls or
political developments in the United States or abroad. Certain funds may engage
in proxy hedging of currencies by entering into derivative transactions with
respect to a currency whose value is expected to correlate to the value of a
currency the fund owns or wants to own. This presents the risk that the two
currencies may not move in relation to one another as expected. In that case,
the fund could lose money on its investment and also lose money on the position
designed to act as a proxy hedge. Certain funds may also take active currency
positions and may cross-hedge currency exposure represented by their securities
into another foreign currency. This may result in a fund’s currency exposure
being substantially different than that suggested by its securities investments.
All funds with foreign currency holdings and/or that invest or trade in
securities denominated in foreign currencies or related derivative instruments
may be adversely affected by changes in foreign currency exchange rates.
Derivative foreign currency transactions (such as futures, forwards, and swaps)
may also involve leveraging risk, in addition to currency risk. Leverage may
disproportionately increase a fund’s portfolio losses and reduce opportunities
for gain when interest rates, stock prices, or currency rates are
changing.
9
Fund
details
Emerging-market
risk.
Investments in the
securities of issuers based in countries with emerging-market economies are
subject to greater levels of risk and uncertainty than investments in
more-developed foreign markets, since emerging-market securities may present
market, credit, currency, liquidity, legal, political, and other risks greater
than, or in addition to, the risks of investing in developed foreign countries.
These risks include high currency exchange-rate fluctuations; increased risk of
default (including both government and private issuers); greater social,
economic, and political uncertainty and instability (including the risk of war);
more substantial governmental involvement in the economy; less governmental
supervision and regulation of the securities markets and participants in those
markets; controls on foreign investment and limitations on repatriation of
invested capital and on a fund’s ability to exchange local currencies for U.S.
dollars; unavailability of currency hedging techniques in certain
emerging-market countries; the fact that companies in emerging-market countries
may be newly organized, smaller, and less seasoned; the difference in, or lack
of, auditing and financial reporting requirements or standards, which may result
in the unavailability of material information about issuers; different clearance
and settlement procedures, which may be unable to keep pace with the volume of
securities transactions or otherwise make it difficult to engage in such
transactions; difficulties in obtaining and/or enforcing legal judgments against
non-U.S. companies and non-U.S. persons, including company directors and
officers, in foreign jurisdictions; and significantly smaller market
capitalizations of emerging-market issuers. In addition, shareholders of
emerging market issuers, such as the fund, often have limited rights and few
practical remedies in emerging markets. Finally, the risks associated with
investments in emerging markets often are significant, and vary from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction and company to company.
Greater
China risk.
Although they are
larger and/or more established than many emerging markets, the markets of the
Greater China region function in many ways as emerging markets and carry the
high levels of risks associated with emerging market economies. In addition,
there are risks particular to the region, including less developed trading
markets, acute political risks such as possible negative repercussions resulting
from China’s relationship with Taiwan or Hong Kong, and restrictions on monetary
repatriation or other adverse government actions. In addition, investments in
Taiwan could be adversely affected by its political relationship with China and
because Taiwan does not exercise the same level of control over its economy as
the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does with respect to
Mainland China’s economy, changes to its political and economic relationship
with the PRC could adversely impact a fund’s investments.
Further, the attitude
of the PRC toward growth and capitalism is uncertain, and the markets of Hong
Kong and Mainland China could be hurt significantly by any government
interference or any material change in government policy. For example, a
government may restrict investment in companies or industries considered
important to national interests, or intervene in the financial markets, such as
by imposing trading restrictions, or banning or curtailing short selling. A
small number of companies and industries may represent a relatively large
portion of the Greater
China market as a
whole. All of these factors combined mean that the fund is more likely to
experience greater price volatility and lower liquidity than a portfolio that
invests substantially in equity securities of U.S. issuers.
Variable Interest
Entities (VIEs) are widely used by China-based companies where China restricts
or prohibits foreign ownership in certain sectors, including telecommunications,
technology, media, and education. In a typical VIE structure, a shell company is
set up in an offshore jurisdiction and enters into contractual arrangements with
a China-based operating company. The VIE lists on a U.S. exchange and investors
then purchase the stock issued by a VIE. VIE structures do not offer the same
level of investor protections as direct ownership and investors may experience
losses if VIE structures are altered, contractual disputes emerge, or the legal
status of the VIE structure is prohibited under Chinese law.
Hong
Kong Stock Connect Program (Stock Connect) risk.
Trading in China
A-Shares listed and traded on certain Chinese stock exchanges through Stock
Connect, a mutual market access program designed to, among other things, enable
foreign investment in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) via brokers in Hong
Kong, is subject to both a number of restrictions imposed by Chinese securities
regulations and local exchange listing rules as well as certain risks.
Securities listed on Stock Connect may lose purchase eligibility, which could
adversely affect the fund’s performance. Trading through Stock Connect is
subject to trading, clearance, and settlement procedures that may continue to
develop as the program matures. Any changes in laws, regulations and policies
applicable to Stock Connect may affect China A-Share prices. These risks are
heightened by the underdeveloped state of the PRC’s investment and banking
systems in general.
Index
risk
The fund will be
negatively affected by general declines in the securities and asset classes
represented in the Index. In addition, because the fund is not “actively”
managed, unless a specific security is removed from the Index, the fund
generally would not sell a security because the security’s issuer was in
financial trouble. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an
adverse effect on the fund’s ability to adjust its exposure to the required
levels in order to track the Index. The fund also does not attempt to take
defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.
Therefore, the fund’s performance could be lower than funds that may actively
shift their portfolio assets to take advantage of market opportunities or to
lessen the impact of a market decline or a decline in the value of one or more
issuers. While the index provider provides descriptions of what the Index is
designed to achieve, neither the index provider nor its agents provide any
warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or
completeness of the Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that
the Index will be in line with the index provider’s methodology. The fund’s
mandate as described in this Prospectus is to provide investment results that
closely correspond with the performance of the Index provided by the index
provider. The advisor does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the
index provider’s or any agent’s errors. The Index is constructed and maintained
using third party data that is believed to be reliable, but there is no
guarantee of the accuracy or availability of
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such third party
data. In addition, the market value of the Index is calculated by a third party,
and there is no guarantee that such calculation will be accurate. Errors in
respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile
the Index may occur from time to time. Any such errors may not be identified and
corrected for some period of time. These errors and corrections may have an
adverse impact on the fund and its shareholders, including in the form of
increased costs and/or tracking error. During a period where the Index contains
incorrect constituents, the fund would have market exposure to such constituents
and would be underexposed to the Index’s other constituents. In addition,
neither the fund, the index provider, nor the advisor can guarantee the
availability or timeliness of the production of the Index.
Unusual market
conditions may cause the Index provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance, which
could cause the Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The
postponement of a scheduled rebalance in a time of market volatility could mean
that constituents that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in
market capitalizations or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and
constituents of the Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions
and potentially increasing transaction costs to the fund. Apart from scheduled
rebalances, the index provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc
rebalances to the Index in order, for example, to correct an error in the
selection of Index constituents. When the Index is rebalanced and the fund in
turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the
fund’s portfolio and the Index, any transaction costs and market exposure
arising from such portfolio rebalancing may be borne directly by the fund and
its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out
by the index provider or its agents to the Index may increase the costs to, and
the tracking error risk of, the fund.
Industry
or sector investing risk
When a fund’s
investments are focused in a particular industry or sector of the economy, they
are less broadly invested across industries or sectors than other funds. This
means that concentrated funds tend to be more volatile than other funds, and the
values of their investments tend to go up and down more rapidly. In addition, a
fund that invests in a particular industry or sector is particularly susceptible
to the impact of market, economic, political, regulatory, and other conditions
and risks affecting that industry or sector. From time to time, a small number
of companies may represent a large portion of a single industry or sector or a
group of related industries or sectors as a whole.
Large
company risk
Larger, more
established companies may be unable to respond quickly to new competitive
challenges such as changes in technology and consumer tastes. Many larger
companies also may not be able to attain the high growth rate of successful
smaller companies, especially during extended periods of economic expansion. For
purposes of the fund’s investment policies, the market capitalization of a
company is based on its capitalization at the time the fund purchases the
company’s securities. Market capitalizations of companies change over time. The
fund is not obligated to sell a company’s security simply because, subsequent to
its purchase, the company’s market capitalization has changed to be outside the
capitalization range, if any, in effect for the fund.
Liquidity
risk
The extent (if at
all) to which a security may be sold or a derivative position closed without
negatively impacting its market value may be impaired by reduced market activity
or participation, legal restrictions, or other economic and market impediments.
Funds with principal investment strategies that involve investments in
securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations, foreign securities,
derivatives, or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk tend to
have the greatest exposure to liquidity risk. Exposure to liquidity risk may be
heightened for funds that invest in securities of emerging markets and related
derivatives that are not widely traded, and that may be subject to purchase and
sale restrictions.
Operational
and cybersecurity risk
With the increased
use of technologies, such as mobile devices and “cloud”-based service offerings
and the dependence on the internet and computer systems to perform necessary
business functions, the fund’s service providers are susceptible to operational
and information or cybersecurity risks that could result in losses to the fund
and its shareholders. Intentional cybersecurity breaches include unauthorized
access to systems, networks, or devices (such as through “hacking” activity or
“phishing”); 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. Cyber-attacks can also
be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access,
such as causing denial-of-service attacks on the service providers’ systems or
websites rendering them unavailable to intended users or via “ransomware” that
renders the systems inoperable until appropriate actions are taken. 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, 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, the advisor, a manager, or other service providers
to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs,
litigation costs or financial loss. In addition, such incidents could affect
issuers in which a fund invests, and thereby cause the fund’s investments to
lose value.
Cyber-events have the
potential to materially affect the fund and the advisor’s relationships with
accounts, shareholders, clients, customers, employees, products, and service
providers. The fund has established risk management systems reasonably designed
to seek to reduce the risks associated with cyber-events. There is no guarantee
that the fund will be able to prevent or mitigate the impact of any or all
cyber-events.
The fund is exposed
to operational risk arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited
to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the fund’s
service providers, counterparties, or other third parties, failed or inadequate
processes and technology or system failures.
In addition, other disruptive events,
including (but not limited to) natural disasters and public health crises may
adversely affect the fund’s ability to conduct business, in particular if the
fund’s employees or the
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employees of its
service providers are unable or unwilling to perform their responsibilities as a
result of any such event. Even if the fund’s employees and the employees of its
service providers are able to work remotely, those remote work arrangements
could result in the fund’s business operations being less efficient than under
normal circumstances, could lead to delays in its processing of transactions,
and could increase the risk of cyber-events.
Premium/discount
risk
The NAV of the fund
and the value of your investment will fluctuate. Disruptions to creations and
redemptions or the market price of the fund’s holdings, the existence of extreme
market volatility or potential lack of an active trading market for shares may
result in shares trading at a significant premium or discount to NAV and/or in a
reduced liquidity of your investment. If a shareholder purchases shares at a
time when the market price is at a premium to the NAV or sells shares at a time
when the market price is at a discount to the NAV, the shareholder may sustain
losses. The advisor cannot predict whether shares will trade below, at or above
their NAV. Price differences may be due, in large part, to the fact that supply
and demand forces at work in the secondary trading market for shares will be
closely related to, but not identical to, the same forces influencing the prices
of the securities of the fund’s Index trading individually or in the aggregate
at any point in time. Given the nature of the relevant markets for certain of
the fund’s securities, shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to the
NAV than shares of other ETFs. In addition, in stressed market conditions, the
market for shares may become less liquid in response to deteriorating liquidity
in the markets for the fund’s underlying portfolio holdings. While the
creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the fund’s
shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the fund’s next
calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the
fund’s NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other
factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including
disruptions at market makers, authorized participants or market participants, or
during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices
for shares of a fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Any of these
factors may lead to the shares trading at a premium or discount to the fund’s
NAV. Although market makers will generally take advantage of differences between
the NAV and the trading price of fund shares through arbitrage opportunities,
there is no guarantee that they will do so. Given that the fund invests in
foreign securities, shares may trade at a larger premium or discount to the NAV
than shares of other ETFs.
During periods of
volatility, a shareholder may be unable to sell his or her shares or may incur
significant losses if he or she sells shares. There are various methods by which
investors can purchase and sell shares and various orders that may be placed.
Investors should consult their financial intermediary before purchasing or
selling shares of the fund.
Quantitative
modeling risk
Use of quantitative
models carries the risk that the fund may underperform funds that do not utilize
such models. The use of quantitative models may affect the fund’s exposure to
certain sectors or types of investments and may impact the fund’s relative
investment performance depending on whether such sectors or investments are in
or
out of favor in the
market. Successful application of a quantitative model is dependent on the
manager’s skill in building and implementing the model. For example, human
judgment plays a role in building, utilizing, testing, modifying, and
implementing the financial algorithms and formulas used in these models.
Quantitative models are subject to technical issues including programming and
data inaccuracies, are based on assumptions, and rely on data that is subject to
limitations (e.g., inaccuracies, staleness), any of which could adversely affect
their effectiveness or predictive value. Quantitative models may not accurately
predict future market movements or characteristics due to the fact that market
performance can be affected by non-quantitative factors that are not easily
integrated into quantitative analysis, among other factors.
Small
and mid-sized company risk
Market risk and
liquidity risk may be pronounced for securities of companies with medium-sized
market capitalizations and are particularly pronounced for securities of
companies with smaller market capitalizations. These companies may have limited
product lines, markets, or financial resources, or they may depend on a few key
employees. The securities of companies with medium and smaller market
capitalizations may trade less frequently and in lesser volume than more widely
held securities, and their value may fluctuate more sharply than those
securities. They may also trade in the OTC market or on a regional exchange, or
may otherwise have limited liquidity. Investments in less-seasoned companies
with medium and smaller market capitalizations may present greater opportunities
for growth and capital appreciation, but also involve greater risks than are
customarily associated with more established companies with larger market
capitalizations. These risks apply to all funds that invest in the securities of
companies with smaller- or medium-sized market capitalizations. For purposes of
the fund’s investment policies, the market capitalization of a company is based
on its capitalization at the time the fund purchases the company’s securities.
Market capitalizations of companies change over time. The fund is not obligated
to sell a company’s security simply because, subsequent to its purchase, the
company’s market capitalization has changed to be outside the capitalization
range, if any, in effect for the fund.
Tracking
error risk
Tracking error is the
divergence of the fund’s performance from that of the Index. The fund’s
portfolio composition and performance may not match, and may vary substantially
from, that of the Index for any period of time, in part because there may be a
delay in the fund’s implementation of any changes to the composition of the
Index. Tracking error may also occur because of pricing differences, transaction
costs, differences in accrual of dividends, differences in the treatment of
corporate actions, or the need to meet new or existing regulatory requirements
(including in local markets) or NYSE Arca listing standards. Unlike the fund,
the returns of the Index are not reduced by investment and other operating
expenses, including the trading costs associated with implementing changes to
its portfolio of investments. Tracking error risk may be heightened during times
of market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Because the Index is
not subject to the tax diversification requirements to which the fund must
adhere, the fund may be required to deviate its investments from the securities
and relative
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Fund
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weightings of the
Index. For tax efficiency purposes, the fund may sell certain securities to
realize losses, which will result in a deviation from the Index.
Trading
issues risk
Trading in shares of
the fund on NYSE Arca may be halted due to market conditions or for reasons
that, in the view of NYSE Arca, make trading in shares inadvisable. In addition,
trading in shares on NYSE Arca is subject to trading halts caused by
extraordinary market volatility pursuant to NYSE Arca’s “circuit breaker” rules.
If a trading halt or unanticipated early closing of NYSE Arca occurs, a
shareholder may be unable to purchase or sell shares of the fund. There can be
no assurance that the requirements of NYSE Arca necessary to maintain the
listing of the fund will continue to be met or will remain
unchanged.
Value
investment style risk
Value securities, as
a category, may underperform other segments of the market or the market as a
whole and following a value-oriented investment strategy may cause the fund, at
times, to underperform equity funds that employ a different investment
style.
Additional
risks of investing
Derivatives
and other strategic transactions risk
The fund may, to a
limited extent, invest in derivatives and other strategic transactions. The
ability of a fund to utilize derivatives and other strategic transactions to
benefit the fund will depend in part on its manager’s ability to predict
pertinent market movements and market risk, counterparty risk, credit risk,
interest-rate risk, and other risk factors, none of which can be assured. The
skills required to utilize strategic transactions are different from those
needed to select a fund’s securities. Even if the manager only uses strategic
transactions in a fund primarily to gain exposure to a particular securities
market, if the transaction does not have the desired outcome, it could result in
a significant loss to a fund. The amount of loss could be more than the
principal amount invested. These transactions may also increase the volatility
of a fund and may involve a small investment of cash relative to the magnitude
of the risks assumed, thereby magnifying the impact of any resulting gain or
loss. For example, the potential loss from the use of futures can exceed a
fund’s initial investment in such contracts. In addition, these transactions
could result in a loss to a fund if the counterparty to the transaction does not
perform as promised.
A fund may invest in
derivatives, which are financial contracts with a value that depends on, or is
derived from, the value of underlying assets, reference rates, or indexes.
Derivatives may relate to stocks, bonds, interest rates, currencies or currency
exchange rates, and related indexes. A fund may use derivatives for many
purposes, including as a substitute for direct investment in securities or other
assets. Derivatives may be used in a way to efficiently adjust the exposure of a
fund to various securities, markets, and currencies without a fund actually
having to sell existing investments and make new investments. This generally
will be done when the adjustment is expected to be relatively temporary or in
anticipation of effecting the sale of fund assets and making new investments
over time. Further, since many derivatives have a leverage component, adverse
changes in the value or level of the underlying asset, reference rate, or index
can result in a loss substantially greater than the
amount invested in the derivative
itself. Certain derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of
the size of the initial investment. When a fund uses derivatives for leverage,
investments in that fund will tend to be more volatile, resulting in larger
gains or losses in response to market changes. To limit risks associated with
leverage, a fund is required to comply with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment
Company Act of 1940 (the Derivatives Rule) as outlined
below. For a description of the various derivative instruments the fund may
utilize, refer to the SAI.
The regulation of the
U.S. and non-U.S. derivatives markets has undergone substantial change in recent
years and such change may continue. In particular, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street
Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and regulations promulgated or proposed
thereunder require many derivatives to be cleared and traded on an exchange,
expand entity registration requirements, impose business conduct requirements on
dealers that enter into swaps with a pension plan, endowment, retirement plan or
government entity, and required banks to move some derivatives trading units to
a non-guaranteed affiliate separate from the deposit-taking bank or divest them
altogether. Although the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has
released final rules relating to clearing, reporting, recordkeeping and
registration requirements under the legislation, many of the provisions are
subject to further final rule making, and thus its ultimate impact remains
unclear. New regulations could, among other things, restrict the fund’s ability
to engage in derivatives transactions (for example, by making certain types of
derivatives transactions no longer available to the fund) and/or increase the
costs of such derivatives transactions (for example, by increasing margin or
capital requirements), and the fund may be unable to fully execute its
investment strategies as a result. Limits or restrictions applicable to the
counterparties with which the fund engages in derivative transactions also could
prevent the fund from using these instruments or affect the pricing or other
factors relating to these instruments, or may change the availability of certain
investments.
In addition, the regulation of the
U.S. and non-U.S. derivatives markets has undergone substantial change in recent
years and such change may continue. In particular, effective August 19, 2022
(the Compliance Date), the Derivatives Rule replaced the asset
segregation regime of Investment Company Act Release No. 10666 (Release 10666)
with a new framework for the use of derivatives by registered funds. As of the
Compliance Date, the SEC rescinded Release 10666 and withdrew no-action letters
and similar guidance addressing a fund’s use of derivatives and began requiring
funds to satisfy the requirements of the Derivatives Rule. As a result, on or
after the Compliance Date, the funds will no longer engage in “segregation” or
“coverage” techniques with respect to derivatives transactions and will instead
comply with the applicable requirements of the Derivatives Rule.
The Derivatives Rule mandates that a
fund adopt and/or implement: (i) value-at-risk limitations (VaR); (ii) a written
derivatives risk management program; (iii) new Board oversight responsibilities;
and (iv) new reporting and recordkeeping requirements. In the event that a
fund’s derivative exposure is 10% or less of its net assets, excluding certain
currency and interest rate hedging transactions, it can elect to be classified
as a limited derivatives user (Limited Derivatives User) under the Derivatives
Rule, in which case the fund is not subject to the full requirements of the
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Derivatives Rule.
Limited Derivatives Users are excepted from VaR testing, implementing a
derivatives risk management program, and certain Board oversight and reporting
requirements mandated by the Derivatives Rule. However, a Limited Derivatives
User is still required to implement written compliance policies and procedures
reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks.
The Derivatives Rule also provides
special treatment for reverse repurchase agreements, similar financing
transactions and unfunded commitment agreements. Specifically, a fund may elect
whether to treat reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing
transactions as “derivatives transactions” subject to the requirements of the
Derivatives Rule or as senior securities equivalent to bank borrowings for
purposes of Section 18 of the Investment Company Act of 1940. In addition,
when-issued or forward settling securities transactions that physically settle
within 35-days are deemed not to involve a senior security.
At any time after the
date of this prospectus, legislation may be enacted that could negatively affect
the assets of the fund. Legislation or regulation may change the way in which
the fund itself is regulated. The advisor cannot predict the effects of any new
governmental regulation that may be implemented, and there can be no assurance
that any new governmental regulation will not adversely affect the fund’s
ability to achieve its investment objectives.
The use of derivative
instruments may involve risks different from, or potentially greater than, the
risks associated with investing directly in securities and other, more
traditional assets. In particular, the use of derivative instruments exposes a
fund to the risk that the counterparty to an OTC derivatives contract will be
unable or unwilling to make timely settlement payments or otherwise honor its
obligations. OTC derivatives transactions typically can only be closed out with
the other party to the transaction, although either party may engage in an
offsetting transaction that puts that party in the same economic position as if
it had closed out the transaction with the counterparty or may obtain the other
party’s consent to assign the transaction to a third party. If the counterparty
defaults, the fund will have contractual remedies, but there is no assurance
that the counterparty will meet its contractual obligations or that, in the
event of default, the fund will succeed in enforcing them. For example, because
the contract for each OTC derivatives transaction is individually negotiated
with a specific counterparty, a fund is subject to the risk that a counterparty
may interpret contractual terms (e.g., the definition of default) differently
than the fund when the fund seeks to enforce its contractual rights. If that
occurs, the cost and unpredictability of the legal proceedings required for the
fund to enforce its contractual rights may lead it to decide not to pursue its
claims against the counterparty. The fund, therefore, assumes the risk that it
may be unable to obtain payments owed to it under OTC derivatives contracts or
that those payments may be delayed or made only after the fund has incurred the
costs of litigation. While a manager intends to monitor the creditworthiness of
counterparties, there can be no assurance that a counterparty will meet its
obligations, especially during unusually adverse market conditions. To the
extent a fund contracts with a limited number of counterparties, the fund’s risk
will be concentrated and events that affect the creditworthiness of any of those
counterparties may have a pronounced effect on the fund. Derivatives are also
subject to a number of other risks, including market risk, liquidity
risk, and operational risk. Since the
value of derivatives is calculated and derived from the value of other assets,
instruments, or references, there is a risk that they will be improperly valued.
Derivatives also involve the risk that changes in their value may not correlate
perfectly with the assets, rates, or indexes they are designed to hedge or
closely track. Suitable derivatives transactions may not be available in all
circumstances. The fund is also subject to the risk that the counterparty closes
out the derivatives transactions upon the occurrence of certain triggering
events. In addition, a manager may determine not to use derivatives to reduce
risk exposure. Government legislation or regulation could affect the use of
derivatives transactions and could limit a fund’s ability to pursue its
investment strategies.
A detailed discussion
of various hedging and other strategic transactions appears in the SAI. To the
extent that the fund utilizes the following list of certain derivatives and
other strategic transactions, it will be subject to associated risks. The main
risks of each appear below.
Futures
contracts.
Counterparty risk,
liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), and
risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in
transactions involving futures contracts.
Options
on futures.
Counterparty risk,
liquidity risk (i.e., the inability to enter into closing transactions), and
risk of disproportionate loss are the principal risks of engaging in
transactions involving options on futures. Counterparty risk does not apply to
exchange-traded options.
Large
shareholder risk
Certain accounts or advisor
affiliates, including other funds advised by the advisor or third parties, may
from time to time own (beneficially or of record) or control a substantial
amount of the fund’s shares, including through seed capital arrangements. Such
shareholders may at times be considered to control the fund. Dispositions of a
large number of shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the fund’s
liquidity and net assets to the extent such transactions are executed directly
with the fund in the form of redemptions through an authorized participant (as
defined in “Shareholder information—Buying and selling shares” on page 18 of
this prospectus), rather than executed in the secondary market. These
redemptions may also force the fund to sell securities, which may increase the
fund’s brokerage costs. To the extent these large shareholders transact in
shares of the fund on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a
large percentage of the trading volume on the exchange and may, therefore, have
a material effect (upward or downward), on the market price of the fund’s
shares.
Tax-advantaged
product structure
Unlike conventional
mutual funds that are only bought and sold at closing NAVs, the shares of the
fund have been designed to be created and redeemed principally in-kind in
creation units at each day’s market close at the fund’s NAV and to be tradable
in a secondary market on an intra-day basis. These in-kind arrangements are
designed to mitigate adverse effects on the fund’s portfolio that could arise
from frequent cash purchase and redemption transactions that affect the NAV of
the fund. Moreover, in contrast to conventional mutual funds, where frequent
redemptions can have an adverse tax impact on taxable shareholders
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because of the need
to sell portfolio securities that, in turn, may generate taxable gain, the
in-kind redemption mechanism of the fund, to the extent used, generally is not
expected to lead to a tax event for shareholders whose shares are not being
redeemed. However, the fund may still realize gains related to either cash
redemptions or re-balancing transactions which may need to be
distributed.
Who’s
who
The following are the
names of the various entities involved with the fund’s investment and business
operations, along with brief descriptions of the role each entity
performs.
Board
of Trustees
The Trustees oversee
the fund’s business activities and retain the services of the various firms that
carry out the fund's operations.
Investment
advisor
The investment
advisor manages the fund's business and investment activities.
John
Hancock Investment Management LLC
200 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
200 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
Founded in 1968, the
advisor is an indirect principally owned subsidiary of John Hancock Life
Insurance Company (U.S.A.), which in turn is a subsidiary of Manulife Financial
Corporation.
The advisor’s parent company has been
helping individuals and institutions work toward their financial goals since
1862. The advisor offers investment solutions managed by leading institutional
money managers, taking a disciplined team approach to portfolio management and
research, leveraging the expertise of seasoned investment professionals. As of
June 30, 2023, the advisor had total assets under management of approximately
$153.4 billion.
Subject to general oversight by the
Board of Trustees, the advisor manages and supervises the investment operations
and business affairs of the fund. The advisor selects, contracts with and
compensates one or more subadvisors to manage all or a portion of the fund’s
portfolio assets, subject to oversight by the advisor. In this role, the advisor
has supervisory responsibility for managing the investment and reinvestment of
the fund's portfolio assets through proactive oversight and monitoring of the
subadvisor and the fund, as described in further detail below. The advisor is
responsible for developing overall investment strategies for the fund and
overseeing and implementing the fund's continuous investment programs and
provides a variety of advisory oversight and investment research services. The
advisor also provides management and transition services associated with certain
fund events (e.g., strategy, portfolio manager, or subadvisor changes) and
coordinates and oversees services provided under other agreements.
The advisor has ultimate
responsibility to oversee a subadvisor and recommend to the Board of Trustees
its hiring, termination, and replacement. In this capacity, the advisor, among
other things: (i) monitors on a daily basis the compliance of the subadvisor
with the investment objectives and related policies of the fund; (ii) monitors
significant changes that may impact the subadvisor's overall business
and regularly
performs due diligence reviews of the subadvisor; (iii) reviews the performance
of the subadvisor; and (iv) reports periodically on such performance to the
Board of Trustees. The advisor employs a team of investment professionals who
provide these ongoing research and monitoring services.
The fund relies on an
order from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) permitting the advisor,
subject to approval by the Board of Trustees, to appoint a subadvisor or change
the terms of a subadvisory agreement without obtaining shareholder approval. The
fund, therefore, is able to change subadvisors or the fees paid to a subadvisor,
from time to time, without the expense and delays associated with obtaining
shareholder approval of the change. This order does not, however, permit the
advisor to appoint a subadvisor that is an affiliate of the advisor or the fund
(other than by reason of serving as a subadvisor to the fund), or to increase
the subadvisory fee of an affiliated subadvisor, without the approval of the
shareholders.
Management
fee
The fund pays the
advisor a management fee for its services to the fund. The advisor in turn pays
the fees of the subadvisor. The management fee is stated as an annual percentage
of the aggregate net assets of the fund (together with the assets of any other
applicable fund identified in the advisory agreement) determined in accordance
with the following schedule, and that rate is applied to the average daily net
assets of the fund.
|
Average
daily net assets ($) |
Annual rate
(%) |
|
All asset
levels |
0.44 |
During its most recent fiscal period,
the fund paid the advisor a management fee equal to 0.35% of average daily net
assets (including any waivers and/or reimbursements).
The basis for the
Board of Trustees’ approval of the advisory fees, and of the investment advisory
agreement overall, including the subadvisory agreement, is discussed in the
fund’s most recent semiannual shareholder report for the period ended October
31.
Additional
information about fund expenses
The fund’s annual operating expenses
will likely vary throughout the period and from year to year. The fund’s
expenses for the current fiscal year may be higher than the expenses listed in
the fund’s “Annual fund operating expenses” table, for some of the following
reasons: (i) a significant decrease in average net assets may result in a higher
advisory fee rate if any advisory fee breakpoints are not achieved; (ii) a
significant decrease in average net assets may result in an increase in the
expense ratio because certain fund expenses do not decrease as asset levels
decrease; or (iii) fees may be incurred for extraordinary events such as fund
tax expenses.
Subadvisor
The subadvisor
handles the fund's portfolio management activities, subject to oversight by the
advisor.
Dimensional Fund
Advisors LP
6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One
Austin, Texas 78746
6300 Bee Cave Road, Building One
Austin, Texas 78746
15
Fund
details
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP
(Dimensional) was organized in 1981 as Dimensional Fund Advisors, Inc., a
Delaware corporation, and in 2006, it converted its legal name and
organizational form to Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, a Delaware limited
partnership. Dimensional is engaged in the business of providing investment
management services. Since its organization, Dimensional has provided investment
management services primarily to institutional investors and mutual funds. As of
June 30, 2023, Dimensional and its advisory affiliates managed approximately
$634 billion in assets under management.
The following are brief biographical
profiles of the leaders of the fund’s investment management team, in
alphabetical order. These managers are jointly and primarily responsible for the
day-to-day management of the fund’s portfolio. These managers are employed by
Dimensional. For more details about these individuals, including information
about their compensation, other accounts they manage, and any investment they
may have in the fund, see the SAI.
Casey
Baum
•
Vice President and Portfolio
Manager
•
Managed the fund
since 2022
•
Portfolio Manager for
Dimensional (since 2020)
•
Joined Dimensional in
2018
Rita
Chen
•
Vice President and
Portfolio Manager
•
Managed the fund
since 2022
•
Portfolio Manager for
Dimensional (since 2020)
•
Joined Dimensional in
2016
Joseph
Hohn
•
Vice President and
Senior Portfolio Manager
•
Managed the fund
since 2018
•
Portfolio Manager for
Dimensional (since 2015)
•
Joined Dimensional in
2012
Andres
Torres
•
Vice President and Senior Portfolio
Manager
•
Managed the fund
since 2021
•
Portfolio Manager for
Dimensional (since 2018)
•
Joined Dimensional in
2015
Custodian
The custodian holds
the fund's assets, settles all portfolio trades, and collects most of the
valuation data required for calculating the fund’s net asset value.
State Street Bank
and Trust Company
One Congress Street, Suite 1
Boston, MA 02114
One Congress Street, Suite 1
Boston, MA 02114
Principal
distributor
The principal
distributor distributes creation units for the fund on an agency basis, does not
maintain a secondary market in shares of the fund, and has no role in
determining the investment policies of the fund
or the securities
that are purchased or sold by the fund. The distributor is not affiliated with
the advisor, the subadvisor or any other service provider for the
fund.
Foreside
Fund Services, LLC
Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100
Portland, ME 04101
Three Canal Plaza, Suite 100
Portland, ME 04101
Transfer
agent
The transfer agent
handles shareholder services, including recordkeeping and statements,
distribution of dividends, and processing of creation and redemption
orders.
State Street Bank
and Trust Company
One Congress Street, Suite 1
Boston, MA 02114
One Congress Street, Suite 1
Boston, MA 02114
Additional
information
The fund has entered
into contractual arrangements with various parties that provide services to the
fund, which may include, among others, the advisor, subadvisor, custodian,
principal distributor, and transfer agent, as described above and in the SAI.
Fund shareholders are not parties to, or intended or “third-party” beneficiaries
of, any of these contractual arrangements. These contractual arrangements are
not intended to, nor do they, create in any individual shareholder or group of
shareholders any right, either directly or on behalf of the fund, to either: (a)
enforce such contracts against the service providers; or (b) seek any remedy
under such contracts against the service providers.
This prospectus
provides information concerning the fund that you should consider in determining
whether to purchase shares of the fund. Each of this prospectus, the SAI, or any
contract that is an exhibit to the fund's registration statement, is not
intended to, nor does it, give rise to an agreement or contract between the fund
and any investor. Each such document also does not give rise to any contract or
create rights in any individual shareholder, group of shareholders, or other
person. The foregoing disclosure should not be read to suggest any waiver of any
rights conferred by federal or state securities laws.
16
Fund
details
Financial
highlights
This table details
the financial performance of the fund, including total return information
showing how much an investment in the fund has increased or decreased for the
periods shown below (assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions).
Certain information reflects financial results for a single fund
share.
The financial statements of the fund
as of April 30, 2023, have been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC), the
fund's independent registered public accounting firm. The report of PwC, along
with the fund's financial statements in the fund’s annual report for the fiscal
period ended April 30, 2023, has been incorporated by reference into the SAI.
Copies of the fund’s most recent annual report are available upon
request.
|
Multifactor
Emerging Markets ETF |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Per
share operating performancePeriod
ended |
4-30-23 |
4-30-22 |
4-30-21 |
4-30-20 |
4-30-19
1 |
|
Net
asset value, beginning of period |
$26.33 |
$31.19 |
$21.61 |
$25.87 |
$25.00 |
|
Net
investment income2 |
0.79 |
0.72 |
0.50 |
0.66 |
0.14 |
|
Net realized
and unrealized gain (loss) on investments |
(2.21
) |
(4.79
) |
9.57 |
(4.29
) |
0.78 |
|
Total
from investment operations |
(1.42
) |
(4.07
) |
10.07 |
(3.63
) |
0.92 |
|
Less
distributions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
From net
investment income |
(0.66
) |
(0.79
) |
(0.49
) |
(0.63
) |
(0.05
) |
|
Net
asset value, end of period |
$24.25 |
$26.33 |
$31.19 |
$21.61 |
$25.87 |
|
Total
return (%)3 |
(5.32
) |
(13.33
) |
46.99 |
(14.44
) |
3.71
4 |
|
Total
return at net asset value (%) |
(5.32
) |
(13.33
) |
46.99 |
(14.44
) |
3.71 |
|
Ratios
and supplemental data |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Net assets,
end of period (in millions) |
$703 |
$661 |
$736 |
$685 |
$818 |
|
Ratios (as a
percentage of average net assets): |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Expenses
before reductions |
0.58 |
0.56 |
0.55 |
0.67 |
0.71
5 |
|
Expenses
including reductions |
0.49 |
0.49 |
0.49 |
0.55 |
0.55
5 |
|
Net
investment income |
3.28 |
2.43 |
1.89 |
2.69 |
0.97
5 |
|
Portfolio
turnover (%)6 |
10 |
12 |
25 |
22 |
3 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
Period from
9-27-18 (commencement of operations) to 4-30-19. |
|
2 |
Based on
average daily shares outstanding. |
|
3 |
Total returns
would have been lower had certain expenses not been reduced during the
applicable periods. |
|
4 |
Not
annualized. |
|
5 |
Annualized. |
|
6 |
Portfolio
turnover rate excludes securities received or delivered from in-kind
transactions. |
17
Shareholder
information
Buying
and selling shares
Shares of the fund
may be acquired or redeemed directly from the fund only in creation units or
multiples thereof, as discussed in the “Creations and redemptions” section of
this prospectus. Only an authorized participant may engage in creation or
redemption transactions directly with the fund. An authorized participant is
either a “participating party” (i.e., a broker-dealer or other participant in
the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the
National Securities Clearing Corporation) or a Depository Trust Company
participant, in either case, who has executed an agreement with the distributor
and transfer agent with respect to creations and redemptions of creation units.
Once created, shares of the fund generally trade in the secondary market in
amounts less than a creation unit.
Shares of the fund
are listed for trading on a national securities exchange during the trading day.
Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other
publicly traded companies. However, there can be no guarantee that an active
trading market will develop or be maintained, or that the fund shares listing
will continue or remain unchanged. The Trust does not impose any minimum
investment for shares of a fund purchased on an exchange. Buying or selling the
fund’s shares involves certain costs that apply to all securities transactions.
When buying or selling shares of the fund through a financial intermediary, you
may incur a brokerage commission or other charges determined by your financial
intermediary. Due to these brokerage costs, if any, frequent trading may detract
significantly from investment returns. In addition, you may also incur the cost
of the spread (the difference between the bid price and the ask price). The
commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant cost for
investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. The spread varies over
time for shares of the fund based on its trading volume and market liquidity,
and is generally less if the fund has more trading volume and market liquidity
and more if the fund has less trading volume and market liquidity.
The fund’s primary
listing exchange is NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca is open for trading Monday through
Friday and is closed on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth,
Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
A “Business Day” with
respect to the fund is each day the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca and the
Trust are open and includes any day that the fund is required to be open under
Section 22(e) of the Investment Company Act. Orders from authorized participants
to create or redeem creation units will only be accepted on a Business Day. On
days when NYSE Arca closes earlier than normal, the fund may require orders to
create or redeem creation units to be placed earlier in the day. Please see the
SAI for more information.
Section 12(d)(1) of
the Investment Company Act restricts investments by registered investment
companies and companies relying on Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) of the
Investment Company Act in the securities of other investment
companies.
The Board of Trustees
has not adopted a policy of monitoring for frequent purchases and redemptions of
fund shares (“frequent trading”) that appear to attempt to take advantage of
potential arbitrage opportunities presented by a lag between a change in the
value of the fund’s portfolio
securities after the
close of the primary markets for the fund’s portfolio securities and the
reflection of that change in the fund’s NAV (“market timing”). The Trust
believes this is appropriate because ETFs, such as the fund, are intended to be
attractive to arbitrageurs, as trading activity is critical to ensuring that the
market price of fund shares remains at or close to NAV. Since the fund issues
and redeems creation units at NAV plus applicable transaction fees, and the
fund’s shares may be purchased and sold on NYSE Arca at prevailing market
prices, the risks of frequent trading are limited. Registered investment
companies are permitted to invest in the fund beyond the limits set forth in
Section 12(d)(1) subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in an SEC
exemptive order covering the Trust (until such exemptive order is rescinded by
the SEC) or pursuant to or an exemptive rule adopted by the SEC.
Rule
12b-1 fees
Rule 12b-1 fees may
be paid to the fund’s distributor and may be used by the distributor for
expenses relating to the distribution of, and shareholder or administrative
services for holders of, creation units, and for the payment of service fees
that come within Rule 2341 of the Conduct Rules of the Financial Industry
Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Because Rule 12b-1
fees may be paid out of the fund’s assets on an ongoing basis, over time they
may increase the cost of your investment and may cost shareholders more than
other types of sales charges. Currently, no Rule 12b-1 fees are
charged.
Your broker-dealer or
agent may charge you a fee to effect transactions in creation
units.
Payment
to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries
The advisor or its
affiliates 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, or their making
shares of the fund and certain other John Hancock funds available to their
customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may
be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the fund. Rather, such
payments are made by the advisor or its affiliates from their own resources,
which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the John Hancock
funds 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 fund or other John Hancock funds over another
investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the fund’s
SAI. Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more
information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from the
advisor or its affiliates.
18
Shareholder
information
Valuation
of fund shares
The NAV for shares of the fund is
normally determined once daily as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE
(typically 4:00 p.m., Eastern time, on each Business Day
that the NYSE is open). In case of emergency or other disruption resulting in
the NYSE not opening for trading or the NYSE closing at a time other than the
regularly scheduled close, the NAV may be determined as of the regularly
scheduled close of the NYSE pursuant to the advisor’s Valuation Policies and
Procedures. The time at which shares and transactions are priced and until which
orders are accepted may vary to the extent permitted by the Securities and
Exchange Commission and applicable regulations. Shares of the fund may be
purchased through a broker in the secondary market by individual investors at
market prices which may vary throughout the day and may differ from the NAV. On
holidays or other days when the NYSE is closed, the NAV is not calculated and
the fund does not transact purchase or redemption requests. Trading of
securities that are primarily listed on foreign exchanges may take place on
weekends and U.S. business holidays on which the fund’s NAV is not calculated.
Consequently, the fund’s portfolio securities may trade and the NAV of the
fund’s shares may be significantly affected on days when a shareholder will not
be able to purchase or redeem shares of the fund.
The NAV is computed
by dividing the total assets of the fund, minus liabilities of the fund, by the
number of fund shares outstanding. The current NAV of the fund is available on
our website at jhinvestments.com/etf.
Valuation
of portfolio securities
The Board has designated the fund’s
advisor as the valuation designee to perform fair value functions for the fund
in accordance with the advisor's valuation policies and procedures. As valuation
designee, the advisor will determine the fair value, in good faith, of
securities and other assets held by the fund for which market quotations are not
readily available and, among other things, will assess and manage material risks
associated with fair value determinations, select, apply and test fair value
methodologies, and oversee and evaluate pricing services and other valuation
agents used in valuing the fund's investments. The advisor is subject to Board
oversight and reports to the Board information regarding the fair valuation
process and related material matters. The advisor carries out its
responsibilities as valuation designee through its Pricing
Committee.
Portfolio securities
are valued by various methods that are generally described below. Portfolio
securities also may be fair valued by the advisor’s Pricing Committee in certain
instances pursuant to procedures established by the advisor and adopted by the
Board of Trustees. Equity securities are generally valued at the last sale price
or, for certain markets, the official closing price as of the close of the
relevant exchange. Securities not traded on a particular day are valued using
last available bid prices. A security that is listed or traded on more than one
exchange is typically valued at the price on the exchange where the security was
acquired or most likely will be sold. In certain instances, the Pricing
Committee may determine to value equity securities using prices obtained from
another exchange or market if trading on the exchange or market on which prices
are typically obtained did not open for trading as scheduled, or if trading
closed earlier than scheduled, and trading
occurred as normal on another
exchange or market. Equity securities traded principally in foreign markets are
typically valued using the last sale price or official closing price in the
relevant exchange or market. On any day a foreign market is closed and the NYSE
is open, any foreign securities will typically be valued using the last price or
official closing price obtained from the relevant exchange on the prior business
day. Debt obligations are typically valued based on evaluated prices provided by
an independent pricing vendor. The value of securities denominated in foreign
currencies is converted into U.S. dollars at the exchange rate supplied by an
independent pricing vendor, generally determined as of 4:00 p.m. London time. Forward foreign currency
contracts are valued at the prevailing forward rates which are based on foreign
currency exchange spot rates and forward points supplied by an independent
pricing vendor. Exchange-traded options are valued at the mid-price of the last
quoted bid and ask prices. Futures contracts whose settlement prices are
determined as of the close of the NYSE are typically valued based on the
settlement price while other futures contracts are typically valued at the last
traded price on the exchange on which they trade. Foreign equity index futures
that trade in the electronic trading market subsequent to the close of regular
trading may be valued at the last traded price in the electronic trading market
as of the close of the NYSE. Swaps and unlisted options are generally valued
using evaluated prices obtained from an independent pricing vendor. Shares of
other open-end investment companies that are not ETFs (underlying funds) are
valued based on the NAVs of such underlying funds.
Pricing vendors may
use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and
assumptions to derive values, including transaction data, broker-dealer
quotations, credit quality information, general market conditions, news, and
other factors and assumptions. The fund may receive different prices when it
sells odd-lot positions than it would receive for sales of institutional round
lot positions. Pricing vendors generally value securities assuming orderly
transactions of institutional round lot sizes, but a fund may hold or transact
in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes.
The Pricing Committee
engages in oversight activities with respect to pricing vendors, which includes,
among other things, monitoring significant or unusual price fluctuations above
predetermined tolerance levels from the prior day, back-testing of pricing
vendor prices against actual trades, conducting periodic due diligence meetings
and reviews, and periodically reviewing the inputs, assumptions and
methodologies used by these vendors. Nevertheless, market quotations, official
closing prices, or information furnished by a pricing vendor could be
inaccurate, which could lead to a security being valued incorrectly.
If market quotations, official
closing prices, or information furnished by a pricing vendor are not readily
available or are otherwise deemed unreliable or not representative of the fair
value of such security because of market- or issuer-specific events, a security
will be valued at its fair value as determined in good faith by the Board’s
valuation designee, the advisor. In certain instances, therefore, the Pricing
Committee may determine that a reported valuation does not reflect fair value,
based on additional information available or other factors, and may accordingly
determine in good faith the fair value of the assets, which may differ from the
reported valuation.
19
Shareholder
information
Fair value pricing of
securities is intended to help ensure that the fund’s NAV reflects the fair
market value of the fund’s portfolio securities as of the close of regular
trading on the NYSE (as opposed to a value that no longer reflects market value
as of such close). The use of fair value pricing has the effect of valuing a
security based upon the price the fund might reasonably expect to receive if it
sold that security in an orderly transaction between market participants, but
does not guarantee that the security can be sold at the fair value price.
Further, because of the inherent uncertainty and subjective nature of fair
valuation, a fair valuation price may differ significantly from the value that
would have been used had a readily available market price for the investment
existed and these differences could be material.
Regarding the fund’s
investment in an underlying fund that is not an ETF, which (as noted above) is
valued at such underlying fund’s NAV, the prospectus for such underlying fund
explains the circumstances and effects of fair value pricing for that underlying
fund. The fund relies on a third-party service provider for assistance with the
daily calculation of the fund’s NAV. The third-party service provider, in turn,
relies on other parties for certain pricing data and other inputs used in the
calculation of the fund’s NAV. Therefore, the fund is subject to certain
operational risks associated with reliance on its service provider and that
service provider’s sources of pricing and other data. NAV calculation may be
adversely affected by operational risks arising from factors such as errors or
failures in systems and technology. Such errors or failures may result in
inaccurately calculated NAVs, delays in the calculation of NAVs and/or the
inability to calculate NAV over extended time periods. The fund may be unable to
recover any losses associated with such failures.
Distributions
The fund pays
distributions from its investment income and from net realized capital
gains.
Distributions from
net investment income and distributions from net capital gains, if any, are
declared and paid as follows:
|
|
Investment
income
dividends |
Capital
gains
distributions | |
|
|
Declared |
Paid |
Declared
and
Paid |
|
John
Hancock Multifactor
Emerging
Markets ETF |
Semiannually |
Semiannually |
Annually |
Dividends and other
distributions on shares of the fund are distributed on a pro rata basis to
beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through Depository
Trust Company (DTC) participants and indirect participants (each as described in
the “Book entry” section, below) to beneficial owners then of record with
proceeds received from the fund.
No dividend
reinvestment service is provided by the fund. Broker-dealers may make available
the DTC book-entry dividend reinvestment service for use by beneficial owners of
the 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 fund purchased in the secondary market.
Book
entry
DTC serves as
securities depository for the shares. (The shares may be held only in book-entry
form; stock certificates will not be issued.) DTC, or its nominee, is the record
or registered owner of all outstanding shares. Beneficial ownership of shares
will be shown on the records of DTC or its participants (described below).
Beneficial owners of shares are not entitled to have shares registered in their
names, will not receive or be entitled to receive physical delivery of
certificates in definitive form and are not considered the registered holder
thereof. Accordingly, to exercise any rights of a holder of shares, each
beneficial owner must rely on the procedures of: (i) DTC; (ii) “DTC
participants,” i.e., securities brokers and dealers, banks, trust companies,
clearing corporations and certain other organizations, some of whom (and/or
their representatives) own DTC; and (iii) “indirect participants,” i.e.,
brokers, dealers, banks and trust companies that clear through or maintain a
custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly,
through which such beneficial owner holds its interests. The Trust understands
that under existing industry practice, in the event the Trust requests any
action of holders of shares, or a beneficial owner desires to take any action
that DTC, as the record owner of all outstanding shares, is entitled to take,
DTC would authorize the DTC participants to take such action and that the DTC
participants would authorize the indirect participants and beneficial owners
acting through such DTC participants to take such action and would otherwise act
upon the instructions of beneficial owners owning through them. As described
above, the Trust recognizes DTC or its nominee as the owner of all shares for
all purposes.
Creations
and redemptions
Prior to trading in
the secondary market, shares of the fund are “created” at NAV by market makers,
large investors and institutions only in block-size creation units. Each
“creator” or “authorized participant” enters into an authorized participant
agreement with the fund’s distributor.
A creation
transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the transfer agent, generally
takes place when an authorized participant deposits into the fund a designated
portfolio of securities and/or cash in exchange for a specified number of
creation units.
Similarly, shares can
be redeemed only in creation units, generally for a designated portfolio of
securities and/or cash. Except when aggregated in creation units, shares are not
redeemable by the fund.
The prices at which
creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a
creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the
authorized participant agreement.
Only an authorized
participant may create or redeem creation units directly with the fund. In the
event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market
makers or authorized participants, orders to purchase or redeem creation units
either may not be executed according to the fund’s instructions or may not be
executed at all, or the fund may not be able to place or change
orders.
20
Shareholder
information
When the fund engages
in in-kind transactions, the fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal
securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions
with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities
accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will
be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (Securities Act). Further, an authorized
participant that is not a “qualified institutional buyer,” as such term is
defined under Rule 144A of the Securities Act, will not be able to receive
restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.
Creations and
redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the
Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation
or a DTC participant and has executed an agreement with the distributor with
respect to creations and redemptions of creation unit aggregations. Information
about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of creation units
(including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) and
the applicable transaction fees is included in the fund’s SAI.
The fund typically
expects to wire redemption proceeds between 1 and 3 business days following the
receipt of the redemption request. Processing time is not dependent on the
chosen delivery method. In unusual circumstances, the fund may temporarily
suspend the processing of sell requests or may postpone payment of proceeds for
up to three Business Days or longer, as allowed by federal securities
laws.
To the extent the fund effects
redemptions in cash rather than in-kind, the fund may incur certain costs,
including brokerage costs and/or taxable gains or losses, that
the fund may not have incurred if it had effected redemptions entirely
in-kind. These costs may decrease the fund’s
NAV to the extent they are not offset by a transaction fee payable by an
Authorized Participant.
Taxation
As with any
investment, you should consider how your investment in the fund will be taxed.
The tax information below is provided as general information. More tax
information is available in the SAI. You should consult your tax advisor about
the federal, state, local or foreign tax consequences of your investment in the
fund. Except as otherwise noted, the tax information provided assumes that you
are a U.S. citizen or resident.
Unless your
investment is through an IRA or other tax-advantaged account, you should
carefully consider the possible tax consequences of fund distributions and the
sale of your fund shares.
Distributions
The fund contemplates
declaring as dividends each year all or substantially all of its taxable income.
Distributions you receive from the fund are generally subject to federal income
tax, and may also be subject to state or local taxes. This is true whether you
reinvest your distributions in additional fund shares or receive them in cash.
For federal income tax purposes, the fund’s distributions attributable to net
investment income and short-term capital gains are taxable to you as ordinary
income while distributions of long-term capital gains are taxable to you as
long-term capital gains, no matter how long you have owned your fund
shares.
Under current
provisions of the Code, the maximum individual rate applicable to long-term
capital gains is generally either 15% or 20%, depending on whether the
individual’s income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Fund distributions to
noncorporate shareholders attributable to dividends received by the fund from
U.S. and certain qualified foreign corporations will generally be taxed at the
long-term capital gain rate, as long as certain other requirements are met. For
these lower rates to apply, the non-corporate shareholder must own fund shares
for at least 61 days during the 121-day period beginning 60 days before the
fund’s ex-dividend date. The percentage of dividends eligible for the lower
rates may be reduced as a result of the fund’s securities lending activities,
hedging activities or high portfolio turnover rate.
A percentage of the
fund’s dividends paid to corporate shareholders may be eligible for the
corporate dividends-received deduction. This percentage may, however, be reduced
as a result of the fund’s securities lending activities, hedging activities or
high portfolio turnover rate. Given the fund’s investment strategies, it is not
anticipated that a significant portion of the fund’s dividends will be eligible
for the corporate dividends-received deduction.
Distributions in
excess of the fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits are treated as
a tax-free return of your investment to the extent of your basis in the shares,
and generally as capital gain thereafter. A return of capital, which for tax
purposes is treated as a return of your investment, reduces your basis in
shares, thus reducing any loss or increasing any gain on a subsequent taxable
disposition of shares. A distribution will reduce the fund’s NAV per share and
may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gain even though, from an
economic standpoint, the distribution may constitute a return of capital.
Character and tax status of all distributions will be available to shareholders
after the close of each calendar year.
An additional 3.8%
Medicare tax is imposed on certain net investment income (including ordinary
dividends and capital gain distributions received from the fund and net gains
from redemptions or other taxable dispositions of fund shares) of U.S.
individuals, estates and trusts to the extent that such person’s “modified
adjusted gross income” (in the case of an individual) or “adjusted gross income”
(in the case of an estate or trust) exceeds certain threshold
amounts.
The fund’s
transactions in derivatives (such as futures contracts and swaps) will be
subject to special tax rules, the effect of which may be to accelerate income to
the fund, defer losses to the fund, cause adjustments in the holding periods of
the fund’s securities and convert short-term capital losses into long-term
capital losses. These rules could therefore affect the amount, timing and
character of distributions to you. The fund’s use of derivatives may result in
the fund realizing more short-term capital gains and ordinary income subject to
tax at ordinary income tax rates than it would if it did not use
derivatives.
Although
distributions are generally treated as taxable to you in the year they are paid,
distributions declared in October, November or December but paid in January are
taxable as if they were paid in December.
The fund may be
subject to foreign withholding or other foreign taxes on income or gain from
certain foreign securities. In general, the fund may deduct these taxes in
computing its taxable income. Rather than
21
Shareholder
information
deducting these
taxes, if the fund invests more than 50% of its assets in the stock or
securities of foreign corporations or foreign governments at the end of its
taxable year, the fund may make an election to treat a proportionate amount of
eligible foreign taxes as constituting a taxable distribution to each
shareholder, which would, subject to certain limitations, generally allow the
shareholder to either (i) credit that proportionate amount of taxes against U.S.
federal income tax liability as a foreign tax credit or (ii) to take that amount
as an itemized deduction.
If you buy shares of
the fund before it makes a distribution, the distribution will be taxable to you
even though it may actually be a return of a portion of your investment. This is
known as “buying into a dividend.”
Taxes
on creations and redemptions of creation units
A person who
exchanges securities for creation units generally will recognize a gain or loss.
The gain or loss will be equal to the difference between the market value of the
creation units at the time of exchange and the sum of the exchanger’s aggregate
basis in the securities surrendered and the amount of any cash paid for such
creation units. A person who exchanges creation units for securities will
generally recognize a gain or loss equal to the difference between the
exchanger’s basis in the creation units and the sum of the aggregate market
value of the securities received. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), however,
may assert that a loss realized upon an exchange of primarily securities for
creation units cannot be deducted currently under the rules governing “wash
sales,” or on the basis that there has been no significant change in economic
position. Persons exchanging securities for creation units or redeeming creation
units should consult their own tax adviser with respect to whether wash sale
rules apply and when a loss might be deductible and the tax treatment of any
creation or redemption transaction.
Under current U.S.
federal income tax laws, any capital gain or loss realized upon a redemption (or
creation) of creation units is generally treated as long-term capital gain or
loss if the shares (or securities surrendered) have been held for more than one
year and as a short-term capital gain or loss if the shares (or securities
surrendered) have been held for one year or less.
Sales
of fund shares
Your sale of fund
shares is a taxable transaction for federal income tax purposes, and may also be
subject to state and local taxes. When you sell your shares, you will generally
recognize a capital gain or loss in an amount equal to the difference between
your adjusted tax basis in the shares and the amount received. Generally, this
capital gain or loss is long-term or short-term depending on whether your
holding period exceeds one year, except that any loss realized on shares held
for six months or less will be treated as a long-term capital loss to the extent
of any capital gain dividends that were received on the shares. Additionally,
any loss realized on a sale or redemption of shares of a fund may be disallowed
under “wash sale” rules to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced with
other shares of that fund within a period of 61 days beginning 30 days before
and ending 30 days after the date of disposition, such as pursuant to a dividend
reinvestment in shares of that fund. If disallowed, the loss will be reflected
in an adjustment to the basis of the shares acquired.
Other
information
You may be subject to
backup withholding at a rate of 24% with respect to taxable distributions if you
do not provide your correct taxpayer identification number, or certify that it
is correct, or if you have been notified by the IRS that you are subject to
backup withholding.
Non-U.S. investors
are generally subject to U.S. withholding tax with respect to dividends received
from the fund and may be subject to estate tax with respect to their fund
shares.
Withholding of U.S. tax (at a 30%
rate) is required with respect to payments of taxable dividends made to certain
non-U.S. entities that fail to comply (or be deemed compliant) with extensive
reporting and withholding requirements designed to inform the U.S. Department of
the Treasury of U.S.-owned foreign investment accounts. Shareholders may be
requested to provide additional information to enable the applicable withholding
agent to determine whether withholding is required.
Reporting to you and the IRS is
required annually on Form 1099-B not only the gross proceeds of fund shares you
sell or redeem but also their cost basis. Shareholders should contact their
intermediaries with respect to reporting of cost basis and available elections
with respect to their accounts. You should carefully review the cost basis
information provided by the applicable intermediary and make any additional
basis, holding period or other adjustments that are required when reporting
these amounts on your federal income tax returns.
22
Index
provider
Index,
index provider, and calculation agent
The Index is created
and sponsored by an affiliated person of the fund. The Index was developed, and
the methodology underlying the construction of the Index is maintained, by
Dimensional, which also serves as subadvisor to the fund. Dimensional has
entered into a Calculation Agent Agreement with S&P Opco, LLC (a subsidiary
of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC) to retain S&P Opco, LLC (Calculation
Agent) to calculate and disseminate information about the market value of the
Index.
The Index is governed
by a published rule-based methodology. Changes to the methodology will be
publicly disclosed prior to implementation.
The fund is entitled
to use the Index pursuant to a sublicensing arrangement with John Hancock
Investment Management LLC, investment advisor to the fund, which in turn has a
licensing agreement with Dimensional.
The Index provider
may delay or change a scheduled rebalancing or reconstitution of the Index or
the implementation of certain rules at its sole discretion.
Disclaimers
Neither
John Hancock Investment Management LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP
guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Index or any data included
therein, and neither John Hancock Investment Management LLC nor Dimensional Fund
Advisors LP shall have any liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions
therein. Neither John Hancock Investment Management LLC nor Dimensional Fund
Advisors LP make any warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained
by the fund, owners of the shares of the fund or any other person or entity from
the use of the Index, trading based on the Index, or any data included therein,
either in connection with the fund or for any other use. Neither John Hancock
Investment Management LLC nor Dimensional Fund Advisors LP makes any express or
implied warranties, and expressly disclaim 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
either John Hancock Investment Management LLC or Dimensional Fund Advisors LP
have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect or consequential
damages (including lost profits) arising out of matters relating to the use of
the Index, even if notified of the possibility of such damages.
S&P
The Index is the
property of Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, which has contracted with S&P
Opco, LLC to calculate and maintain the Index. The Index is not sponsored by
S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates or its third party licensors,
including Standard & Poor’s Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones Trademark
Holdings LLC (collectively, “S&P Dow Jones Indices”). S&P Dow Jones
Indices will not be liable for any errors or omissions in calculating the Index.
“Calculated by S&P Dow Jones Indices” and the related stylized mark(s) are
service marks of S&P Dow Jones Indices and have been licensed for use by
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP. S&P® is a registered trademark of Standard
& Poor’s Financial Services LLC, and Dow Jones® is a registered trademark of
Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. The funds based on the Index are
not sponsored,
endorsed, sold or promoted by S&P Dow Jones Indices. S&P Dow Jones
Indices does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, to the
owners of the fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of
investing in securities generally or in the fund particularly or the ability of
the Index to track general market performance. S&P Dow Jones Indices’ only
relationship to Dimensional Fund Advisors LP with respect to the Index is the
licensing of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of S&P Dow
Jones Indices, and the provision of the calculation services related to the
Index. S&P Dow Jones Indices is not responsible for and has not participated
in the determination of the prices and amount of the fund or the timing of the
issuance or sale of the fund or in the determination or calculation of the
equation by which the fund may converted into cash or other redemption
mechanics. S&P Dow Jones Indices has no obligation or liability in
connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the fund. S&P
Dow Jones Indices LLC is not an investment advisor. Inclusion of a security
within the Index is not a recommendation by S&P Dow Jones Indices to buy,
sell, or hold such security, nor is it investment advice.
S&P DOW JONES
INDICES DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS AND/OR THE
COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEX OR ANY DATA RELATED THERETO OR ANY COMMUNICATION WITH
RESPECT THERETO, INCLUDING, ORAL, WRITTEN, OR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS. S&P
DOW JONES INDICES SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY FOR ANY
ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR DELAYS THEREIN. S&P DOW JONES INDICES MAKES NO EXPRESS
OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, OF
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE OR AS TO RESULTS TO
BE OBTAINED BY DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER
PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEX OR WITH RESPECT TO ANY DATA RELATED
THERETO. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WHATSOEVER SHALL
S&P DOW JONES INDICES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL,
PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF
PROFITS, TRADING LOSSES, LOST TIME, OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR OTHERWISE.
IOPV
THE FUND IS NOT
SPONSORED, ENDORSED, SOLD OR MARKETED BY ICE DATA INDICES, LLC, OR ITS
AFFILIATES (ICE DATA) OR THEIR RESPECTIVE THIRD PARTY SUPPLIERS.
ICE DATA OR ITS THIRD
PARTY SUPPLIERS MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY
DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
WITH RESPECT TO THE IOPVS, ETF STATISTICS, FUND OR ANY FUND DATA INCLUDED
THEREIN. IN NO EVENT SHALL ICE DATA HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL,
PUNITIVE, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS),
EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
23
Other
information
Continuous
offering
The method by which
creation units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable
securities laws. Because new creation units are issued and sold by the Trust on
an ongoing basis, a “distribution,” as such term is used in the Securities Act,
may occur at any point. Broker dealers and other persons are cautioned that some
activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their
being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them
statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery and liability
provisions of the Securities Act.
For example, a broker
dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes
creation units after placing an order with the transfer agent for review and
approval by the distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares, and sells
such shares directly to customers, or if it chooses to couple the creation of a
supply of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of
secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an
underwriter for purposes of the Securities Act must take into account all the
facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker dealer or its
client in the particular case, and the examples mentioned above should not be
considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a
categorization as an underwriter.
Broker dealers who
are not “underwriters” but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to
ordinary secondary trading transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are
part of an “unsold allotment” within the meaning of Section 4(3)(C) of the
Securities Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery
exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act. This is because the
prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(3) of the Securities Act is not
available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the
Investment Company Act. As a result, broker dealer firms should note that
dealers who are not underwriters but are participating in a distribution (as
contrasted with ordinary secondary market transactions) and thus dealing with
the Shares that are part of an overallotment within the meaning of Section
4(3)(A) of the Securities Act would be unable to take advantage of the
prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(3) of the Securities Act.
Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares are
reminded that, under Rule 153 of the Securities Act, a prospectus delivery
obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the Securities Act owed to an exchange
member in connection with a sale on NYSE Arca is satisfied by the fact that the
prospectus is available at NYSE Arca upon request. The prospectus delivery
mechanism provided in Rule 153 is only available with respect to transactions on
an exchange.
In addition, certain
affiliates of the fund and the advisor may purchase and resell fund shares
pursuant to this prospectus.
Intraday
value
The trading prices of
the fund’s shares in the secondary market generally differ from the fund’s daily
NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for fund
shares and underlying securities held by the fund, economic conditions and other
factors. Information regarding the intraday value of the fund’s shares (IOPV) is
disseminated
every 15 seconds
throughout each trading day by the national securities exchange on which the
fund’s shares are listed or by market data vendors or other information
providers. The IOPV is based on the current market value of the securities
and/or cash required to be deposited in exchange for a creation unit. The IOPV
does not necessarily reflect the precise composition of the current portfolio of
securities held by the fund at a particular point in time or the best possible
valuation of the current portfolio. Therefore, the IOPV should not be viewed as
a “real-time” update of the fund’s NAV, which is computed only once a day. The
IOPV is generally determined by using current market quotations and/or price
quotations obtained from broker-dealers and other market intermediaries that may
trade in the portfolio securities held by the fund and valuations based on
current market rates. The quotations and/or valuations of certain fund holdings
may not be updated during U.S. trading hours if such holdings do not trade in
the United States. The fund is not involved in, or responsible for, the
calculation or dissemination of the IOPV and makes no warranty as to its
accuracy.
24
For
more information
Annual/semiannual
reports to shareholders
Additional
information about the fund’s investments is available in the fund’s annual and
semiannual reports to shareholders. In the fund’s annual report, you will find a
discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly
affected the fund’s performance during its last fiscal year.
As of January 1,
2021, paper copies of the fund’s shareholder reports are no longer sent by mail.
Instead, the reports are made available on jhinvestments.com/etf, and you will
be notified and provided with a link each time a report is posted to the
website. You may request to receive paper reports from the fund or from your
financial intermediary, free of charge, at any time. You may also request to
receive documents through eDelivery.
Statement
of Additional Information (SAI)
The SAI contains more
detailed information on all aspects of the fund and includes a summary of the
fund’s policy regarding disclosure of its portfolio holdings, as well as legal
and regulatory matters. A current SAI has been filed with the SEC and is
incorporated by reference into (and is legally a part of) this
prospectus.
To
obtain a free copy of these documents or request other information
There are several
ways you can get a current annual/semiannual report, prospectus, or SAI from
John Hancock, request other information, or make inquiries:
Online:
jhinvestments.com/etf
By
mail:
John Hancock
Investment Management
200 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
By phone: 800-225-6020
200 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
By phone: 800-225-6020
You can also view or
obtain copies of these documents through the SEC:
Online:
sec.gov
© 2023 John Hancock Exchange-Traded
Fund Trust
200 Berkeley Street Boston, MA 02116
800-225-6020, jhinvestments.com
200 Berkeley Street Boston, MA 02116
800-225-6020, jhinvestments.com
Manulife, Manulife
Investment Management, Stylized M Design, and Manulife Investment Management
& Stylized M Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance
Company and are used by its affiliates under license.
SEC file number: 811-22733
9900PN 9/1/23
9900PN 9/1/23