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.
Derivatives - The use of derivatives involves a variety of risks, which may be different from, or greater than, the risks associated with investing in traditional securities, such as stocks and bonds. Risks of derivatives include leverage risk, liquidity risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk, market risk, counterparty risk and credit risk. Use of derivatives can increase fund losses, increase costs, reduce opportunities for gains, increase fund volatility, and not produce the result intended. Certain derivatives have the potential for unlimited loss, regardless of the size of the initial investment. Even a small investment in derivatives can have a disproportionate impact on the fund. Derivatives may be difficult or impossible to sell, unwind or value, and the counterparty (including, if applicable, the fund's clearing broker, the derivatives exchange or the clearinghouse) may default on its obligations to the fund. In certain cases, the fund may incur costs and may be hindered or delayed in enforcing its rights against or closing out derivatives instruments with a counterparty, which may result in additional losses. Derivatives are also generally subject to the risks applicable to the assets, rates, indices or other indicators underlying the derivative, including market risk, credit risk, liquidity risk, management risk and valuation risk. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances or at reasonable prices. The value of a derivative may fluctuate more or less than, or otherwise not correlate well with, the underlying assets, rates, indices or other indicators to which it relates. Using derivatives also subjects the fund to certain operational and legal risks. The fund may segregate cash or other
liquid assets to cover the funding of its obligations under derivatives contracts or make margin payments when it takes positions in derivatives involving obligations to third parties. Rule 18f-4 under the 1940 Act provides a comprehensive regulatory framework for the use of derivatives by funds and imposes requirements and restrictions on funds using derivatives. Rule 18f-4 could have an adverse impact on the fund's performance and its ability to implement its investment strategies and may increase costs related to the fund's use of derivatives. The rule may affect the availability, liquidity or performance of derivatives, and may not effectively limit the risk of loss from derivatives.
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 if such sales of investments result in capital gains. In addition, sizeable redemptions could cause the fund's total expenses to increase.
Leveraging - To the extent that the fund borrows or uses derivatives or other investments, such as ETFs, that have embedded leverage, your investment may be subject to heightened volatility, risk of loss and costs. Other risks also will be compounded because leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the fund would otherwise have. Use of leverage may result in the loss of a substantial amount, and possibly all, of the fund's assets. The fund also may have to sell assets at inopportune times to satisfy its obligations.
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