Active
Trading – The fund may engage in active trading of its portfolio. Active trading will
increase transaction costs and could detract from performance. Active trading may be more pronounced during periods of market volatility and may generate greater amounts of short-term capital
gains.
Currency – The value of a fund’s investments in
securities denominated in foreign currencies increases or decreases as the rates of
exchange between those currencies and the U.S. dollar change. U.S. dollar-denominated securities of foreign issuers may also be affected by currency risk. Currency exchange rates can be volatile and may fluctuate
significantly over short periods of time. Currency conversion costs and currency fluctuations could reduce or eliminate investment gains or add to investment losses. A fund may be unable or may choose not to
hedge its foreign currency exposure or any hedge may not be effective.
Cybersecurity – Cybersecurity incidents, both intentional
and unintentional, may allow an unauthorized party to gain access to fund assets, fund or
shareholder data (including private shareholder information), or proprietary information, cause the fund or its service providers (including, but not limited to, the fund’s investment manager, any
sub-adviser(s), transfer agent, distributor, custodian, fund accounting agent and financial intermediaries) to suffer data breaches, data corruption or loss of operational functionality, or prevent fund investors
from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares, receiving distributions or receiving timely
information regarding the fund or their investment in the fund. Cybersecurity incidents may
result in financial losses to the fund and its shareholders, and substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent or mitigate any future cybersecurity incidents.
Depositary Receipts – Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as are the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be
converted, and they may be less liquid than the underlying shares in their primary trading
market. In addition, depositary receipts expose the fund to risk associated with the
non-uniform terms that apply to depositary receipt programs, credit exposure to the depositary bank and to the sponsors and other parties with whom the depositary bank establishes the programs. Holders of
depositary receipts may have limited voting rights, and investment restrictions in certain countries may adversely impact the value of depositary receipts because such restrictions may limit the ability to
convert equity shares into depositary receipts and vice versa.
Foreign Investments – Investing in securities of foreign
issuers or issuers with significant exposure to foreign markets involves additional risks.
Foreign markets can be less liquid, less regulated, less transparent and more volatile than U.S. markets. The value of the fund’s foreign investments may decline, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, because of factors
affecting the particular issuer as well as foreign markets and issuers generally, such as unfavorable government actions, including nationalization, expropriation or confiscatory taxation, reduction of
government or central bank support, tariffs and trade disruptions, sanctions, political or financial instability, social unrest or other adverse economic or political developments. Foreign investments may
also be subject to different accounting practices and different regulatory, legal, auditing,
financial reporting and recordkeeping standards and practices,
and may be more
difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. Certain foreign clearance and settlement procedures may result in an inability to execute transactions or delays in settlement.
Large Capitalization Companies – The fund’s investments
in larger, more established companies may underperform other segments of the market because
they may be less responsive to competitive challenges and opportunities and unable to attain high growth rates during periods of economic expansion.
Large Shareholder – A significant portion of the fund’s shares may be owned by one or more investment vehicles or institutional investors. Transactions by these
large shareholders may be disruptive to the management of the fund. For example, the fund
may experience large redemptions and could be required to sell securities at a time when it may not otherwise desire to do so. Such transactions may increase the fund’s brokerage and/or other transaction costs. These
transactions may also accelerate the realization of taxable capital gains to shareholders. In addition, sizeable redemptions could cause the fund’s total expenses to increase.
Liquidity – The fund may make investments that are illiquid
or that become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid investments can be difficult to value, may
trade at a discount from comparable, more liquid investments, and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in rising interest rate or volatile environments. If the fund is
forced to sell an illiquid investment to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the fund may be forced to sell at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. Liquidity of particular
investments, or even entire asset classes, including U.S. Treasury securities, can deteriorate rapidly, particularly during times of market turmoil, and those investments may be difficult or impossible for
the fund to sell. This may prevent the fund from limiting losses.
Small and Medium Capitalization Companies – The fund will be exposed to additional risks as a result of its investments in the securities of small or medium
capitalization companies. Small or medium capitalization companies may be more at risk than
large capitalization companies because, among other things, they may have limited product lines, operating history, market or financial resources, or because they may depend on a limited management group. Securities of small and
medium capitalization companies may be more volatile than and may underperform large
capitalization companies, may be harder to sell at times and at prices the portfolio
managers believe appropriate and may offer greater potential for losses.
Sustainability Data – Sustainability information from
third-party data providers may be incomplete, inaccurate, delayed or unavailable. There are
not currently universally accepted sustainability standards or standardized practices for researching, generating, or analyzing sustainability data, classifications, screens, and ratings (“Sustainability
Data”). The factors and criteria considered when generating Sustainability Data and the results of such sustainability research may differ widely across third-party Sustainability Data providers. The evaluation of
sustainability factors and criteria is often subjective, is often evolving and subject to ongoing refinement, and the third-party Sustainability Data providers used by the fund may not identify or evaluate every
relevant sustainability factor and/or criteria with respect to every investment. Due to
differences in various countries’ corporate disclosure and financial