Fund’s valuation of a
security at the time of calculation of the Fund’s net asset value), differences in transaction costs, the Fund’s holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of
the accrual of or the valuation of dividends or other distributions, interest, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, changes to the Underlying Index and the cost to the
Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. These risks may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. In addition, tracking error
may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not.
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Concentration Risk — The Fund reserves the right to concentrate its investments (i.e., invest 25% or more of its
total assets in securities of issuers in a particular industry) to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index concentrates in a particular industry. To the extent the Fund concentrates in a particular industry, it may be
more susceptible to economic conditions and risks affecting that industry.
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Derivatives Risk — The Fund’s use of derivatives may increase its costs, reduce the Fund’s returns and/or increase
volatility. Derivatives involve significant risks, including:
Leverage Risk — The Fund’s use of derivatives can
magnify the Fund’s gains and losses. Relatively small market movements may result in large changes in the value of a derivatives position and can result in losses that
greatly exceed the amount originally invested.
Market Risk — Some derivatives are more sensitive to interest
rate changes and market price fluctuations than other securities. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, which losses are potentially unlimited. Finally, BFA may not be able to predict correctly the
direction of securities prices, interest rates and other economic factors, which could cause the Fund’s derivatives positions to lose value.
Counterparty Risk — Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that
the other party in the transaction will be unable or unwilling to fulfill its contractual obligation, and the related risks of having concentrated exposure to such a counterparty.
Illiquidity Risk — The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the
resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately.
Operational Risk — The use of derivatives includes the risk of potential operational issues,
including documentation issues, settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error.
Legal Risk — The risk of insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of counterparty, or legality or
enforceability of a contract.
Volatility and Correlation Risk — Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, an
index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. A risk of the Fund’s use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate with the overall securities markets.
Valuation Risk — Valuation for derivatives may not be readily
available in the market. Valuation may be more difficult in times of market turmoil since many investors and market makers may be reluctant to purchase complex instruments or quote prices for them.
Hedging Risk — Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the
underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences.
Tax Risk — Certain aspects of the tax treatment of derivative instruments, including swap
agreements and commodity-linked derivative instruments, are currently unclear and may be affected by changes in legislation, regulations or other legally binding authority. Such treatment may be less favorable than that given to a direct
investment in an underlying asset and may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments.
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Market Risk and Selection Risk — Market risk is the risk that one or more markets in which the Fund invests will go down in value, including the
possibility that the markets will go down sharply and unpredictably. The value of a security or other asset may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic
trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, exchange, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class.
Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues like pandemics or epidemics, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its
investments. Selection risk is the risk that the securities selected by Fund management will underperform the
markets, the relevant indices or the securities selected by other funds with similar investment objectives and investment strategies. This means you may lose money.
